Turn - Anti Social

by Peter Liddle

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

Label: Infectious Music
Format: CD

intro

"Don't expect a warning when I come ! " They bring it all out in the open right from the first line. Turn aren't here to make you feel cosy. Painfully realistic, they're here to be brutal and hone

"Don't expect a warning when I come ! " They bring it all out in the open right from the first line. Turn aren't here to make you feel cosy. Painfully realistic, they're here to be brutal and honest about things, and they do this by writing beautiful songs that are both catchy and highly listenable. 'Anti-social', their debut album, opens with two rockers 'Too Much Makeup' and 'Beretta", which show off Turn's strength for performing all-out rock without falling into the trappings of Bon Jovi cliché. The lyrics in fact are unusually vivid, and songwriter and singer Ollie Cole has a superb way with words. As the album progresses, Turn slow down the tempo, but never lose the ability to surprise us. Songs suddenly erupt with joyfully melodic blasts of rock, and then slow down to conclude more softly. It might seem formulaic, and people have described the band as having a dated sound in the past, but they are overlooking certain aspects of Turn's music. They don't sound like anyone in particular - comparisons range from Neil Young to the Pixies to AC/DC. While this mix won't appeal to everybody, Turn clearly know what they are doing. The defining feature of their music is definitely Cole's words . The pain that is encapsulated in these songs is incredible at times, less so perhaps on this album than on their previous singles, but using love and loss, and trust and distrust as his main themes, the honesty displayed here is astounding, From the opening shocker of 'Too Much Makeup' to the sentimental closing number f 'I still believe' (though don't be fooled, -the next line is "You didn't love me from the start"), 'Antisocial' is a powerful album. If you like to either rock or relax, or just like good songwriting in the Neil Young or Nick Drake mould, then 'Antisocial' is certainly something to look out for.

Track Listing:-

1 Too much make up
2 Beretta
3 Antisocial
4 These three words
5 Queen of my heart
6 My orbison
7 Gav and anne
8 After we go
9 Words
10 Tired love song
11 I still believe

Label Links:-

http://www.infectiousmusicuk.com/
https://www.facebook.com/infectiousmusicuk
https://twitter.com/Infectious_uk
https://www.youtube.com/user/infectiousmusicuk
https://vimeo.com/infectiousmusic

interviews

Interview (2002)

It is a typical rowdy Saturday night gig at the Glasgow Barrowlands, with lots of beer fights, and the crowd is getting impatient waiting for Idlewild to finally take the famous stage for the first ti

live reviews

Shepherd's Bush Empire, 26th Oct 2000

Turn is not a terrible name for a band. As a result of their name, however, and also the fact that they are on Infectious records (home of the likeable Ash, but the boring My Vitriol among others), I

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reviews

Check My Ears (2001)

Turn are a hard band to place. You think you've got them sussed and then they open a new song in a completely differently style from the last one, sending you into the type of confused panic that is