I am a very easy person to please when it comes to rock music. As long as you have an interesting enough sound or someone black in the band, I’ll give it a listen. Turnstile has both of those things and I am now a fan. Plus, I love anything Dev Hynes touches so him being on three tracks was icing on the cake. I will admit that I was fast asleep on Turnstile. I’d see them on Instagram every now and then, but I never heard any music. Then, they released a teaser for their TURNSTILE LOVE CONNECTION EP which featured the band going absolutely stupid performing T.L.C in front of this all pink background and people bobbing their heads in a very calm way, which is a huge contrast. The way everyone in the band moves is hypnotic and it was impossible for me to not bob my head along with the music. I was hooked that easily. Not long after they released ALIEN LOVE CALL with Dev and I played the living hell out of it. Shouting “CAN’T BE THE OOOONLY ONNNNNNE” in my car became a daily habit. Turned out I was just late as hell, all of these tracks had released a month before I heard them. The album GLOW ON was released not too long after my discovery. Let’s dive in, eh?

Okay first off, MYSTERY is a hit. You truly have no clue what’s in store when the song starts. Then when all the instruments come together the song grabs you by your collar and starts to beat you up, but in a good way. The groove is infectious and that’s driven by the bassline. Lead vocalist Brendan Yates’ voice is just so perfect, it sounds good no matter if he’s yelling or just singing. Then!!! There’s a guitar solo!!! I don’t know who performs it since Turnstile has two guitarists but whoever did it killed it. In the background behind the solo is a chorus of Brendan singing and wow, what a great addition. This song is great. Most of the songs on the album have this high-paced, “I’m about to get my face kicked in,” feeling to them. They never just stop there though. This is great for me because that is usually my main concern with punk or slam dance rock. You can never really hear what the person is saying and it’s the same riff being played for the entire time. Turnstile always adds another element out of nowhere. BLACKOUT is a great example of this, because in the middle of this crazy energy…there’s a cowbell solo. Which, sounds weird until you hear it and it fits so well that you don’t even notice that the groove changes. Then, at the end is another “AHHHHH” moment. The drums and guitars let you know that something crazy is coming, then Brendan goes “IT’S JUST APART OF MY SHOW” and the drums just kick a hole in your chest! I melt every time. DON’T PLAY has this Sergio Mendes-esque piano playing during the breakdowns and it adds another element to the song that helps the song get from one timestamp to another. Does that make sense? Like it helps the old lady across the street, she was already going to get there, but the piano made sure she didn’t get run over. Yeah, exactly that.

There’s a four-track passage on this album that’s amazing. From NEW HEART DESIGN to LONELY DEZIRES, the band is in another element. NEW HEART DESIGN features this infectious guitar + bass combo that mesh so well with each other it’s incredible. After T.L.C comes NO SURPRISE which features bassist Franz Lyons over a synthesizer. The track is a huge contrast from the rest of the album as a whole. There’s no drums, bass or any guitars present. Just vocals and synths. This is another highlight for me because it’s so beautiful sounding. There’s something about reverbed synths that just transport you into a dream world. The song is so short that you can loop it for awhile and not get tired of it. The songs that Blood Orange adds to are interesting. We all enjoy features that don’t ruin the energy of the song and Dev does that on every song he’s on. If you’re not listening closely you don’t even realize that he’s singing. It’s great.

I thoroughly enjoyed this album. Like I’ve always said I wouldn’t dedicate all these words to some bullshit.

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