This new Turnstile album is going to be fascinating. In 2021, the Baltimore underground legends kicked off a strange new era of big-room hardcore with the release of their album Glow On, an actual masterpiece. In a little more than a month, they'll follow that LP with a new full-length called Never Enough. When they announced the album earlier this month, Turnstile shared its title track, an atmospheric rocker that seemed like it was building up to an explosion. Now, they've dropped a single video for two tracks, "Seein' Stars" and "Birds," that represent very different sides of what this band can do.
"Seein' Stars" is up first, and it's guaranteed to be the more divisive of the two songs. Turnstile have ventured far afield from their hardcore roots on past tracks, but they've never pushed quite as far as they do on "Seein' Stars." It's a twitchy, funky new wave jam that builds into a swirling dance track, and it's got backing vocals from Blood Orange's Dev Hynes and Paramore's Hayley Williams. (Hynes previously appeared on the Glow On single "Alien Love Call," and he also contributed cello to "Never Enough." Turnstile frontman Brendan Yates directed Paramore's "This Is Why" video in 2022, and there's a famous-in-hardcore video of Yates lip-syncing "Misery Business" when he was touring with Trapped Under Ice in 2011.)
At first, I thought "Seein' Stars" reminded me of the Police. As the song kept going, I thought it sounded more like Tame Impala when they're in the disco zone. Either way, Yates is really singing on this one. I think it's a really good song, even if every longtime Turnstile supporter isn't necessarily going to be on board with it. "Seein' Stars" abruptly gives way to "Birds," which opens with a long, ominous synth drone as drummer Daniel Fang builds it up to explosion. Then "Birds" turns into the fast, direct hardcore anthem that Turnstile does better than just about anyone. Yates is still singing really hard on this song. The track is pure mosh material, starting out with a Bad Brains-style barrage before turning into a midtempo stomper. It's immediately one of my favorite songs of the year. They go absolutely stupid with that one.
Like "Never Enough," "Seein' Stars" and "Birds" have a video -- really two videos -- that Brendan Yates co-directed with Turnstile guitarist Pat McCrory. Both parts of the video show people reacting to the music. The "Seein' Stars" half has dancers moving in slow motion against a black void. The "Birds" segment, teased at the end of the "Never Enough" clip, has Turnstile playing an open-air stage in the middle of rolling green hills while a bunch of kids go off. Turnstile recently announced a special record-release show that's going down June 5 under the K Bridge in Brooklyn, and it's also got Teezo Touchdown, Boy Harsher, and Big Boy on the bill. Below, check out their double video and their upcoming dates.
TOUR DATES:
6/06 - Brooklyn, NY @ Under The K Bridge *
6/07 - Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound
6/11 - Athens, Greece @ Teatro Petras
6/13 - London, UK @ Outbreak Fest London
6/14 - Porto, Portugal @ Primavera Sound Porto
6/18 - Vienna, Austria @ Gasometer
6/19 - Prague, Czech Republic @ Velky Sal Lucerna
6/21 - Clisson, France @ Hellfest
6/23 - Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg @ Rockhal
6/25 - Warsaw, Poland @ Letnia Scena Progresji
6/27 - Brussels, Belgium @ Ancienne Belgique
6/28 - Ysselsteyn, Netherlands @ Jera On Air
6/29 - Somerset, UK @ Glastonbury Festival
7/12 - Ottawa, ON @ Ottawa Blues Festival
10/03 - Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock
10/17-18 - Miami, FL @ III Points Festival
* with Teezo Touchdown, Boy Harsher, & Big Boy
Never Enough is out 6/6 on Roadrunner.
