TURNSTILE // The Shape of Hardcore To Come

Turnstile may well be the most exciting thing to happen in punk-hardcore since Refused.

MORE: CLOWNS: Unleash New Single ‘Sarah’ // TIMES OF GRACE: Jesse Leach On How The New Record Captured Him Reconstructing From The Ground Up REVIEWS: THE BRONX: VI // LIL LOTUS: ERRØR BØY // JINJER: Wallflowers // TURNSTILE: Glow On

Although, lucky for Turnstile, it’s not taking two decades for people to realise their greatness. The Baltimore-based group caused quite the stir with their 2018 critically acclaimed release Time & Space due to it’s refreshing and genre redefining approach to hardcore, now, 2021 sees the release of their newest effort, Glow On.

Speaking on the recording of Glow On, the groups vocalist Brendan Yates says, “I think we just went in the same way we always go into making an album, just going in and trying to capture where we are at in life; musically, personally, just everything.

“This time around we were given time; resources and tools to sit and work with things and actually build it out. Just all the far-fetched ideas we might have.”

Touching on the unique ideas and instruments that the group experimented with Yates says, “With how we build the songs and how we have been writing the last couple of years, we wanted to put the songs together in an exciting way that feels like it would fit and exist in my imagination, that was really the goal and it feels good to be able to work on something for so long as an idea and then release it to the world.”

With Glow On seeing the group experiment heavily with drum machines, pianos synth loops; primarily used to link shifts in sound or genre between the songs components, it begs the question if any elements were added in post production.

“Most of them were done in the studio or in demos before the studio,” says Yates.

“It was all done while we were in the studio and had access to a lot of drum machines and keyboards; pianos and all the guitar amps. It’s kind of a big playground of sound that you can just continuously build upon once you’re there.

We wanted to put the songs together in an exciting way that feels like it would fit and exist in my imagination, that was really the goal
[ Brendan Yates ]

“Even small things can add a lot to an idea at times so that was really exciting for us, to have all the songs as they were and then go in there to build them together with all this equipment.”

The hype for Glow On has been building steadily since the group dropped the Love Connection EP and concurrent music videos two months ago. When asked why they decided to premiere 4 songs off the upcoming release, in a separate tracklist to the album Yates says.

“When you put songs together for an album I think you always kind of have an idea of how they link and flow together.

“Before we even recorded this album all of the songs existed in the exact order that they are on the record but those four songs, I felt set to the side and connected to each other in another way.

“We tried to present those songs in the way that we see them connecting. Especially visually with the videos, because when you are building a song, you are kind of building a universe around that song and to make that visual project around that EP was super fulfilling for us. It felt like doubling down on the initial idea of a song in the first place and then building upon it and being able to have one big package of that idea.

“The whole experience from recording to the video was a big learning experience and just overall a very fulfilling experience for us to be in control of putting it all together and working together with people that are close to us. I’m definitely grateful for the opportunity.”

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