Indie-rock band flipturn, consisting of Dillon Basse (vocals, guitar), Madeline Jarman (bass), Devon Vonbalson (drums), Tristan Duncan (lead guitar), and Mitch Fountain (guitar, keyboard) has come a long way from their small town in Florida where the musicians first banded together as teenagers. flipturn gained significant recognition in 2018 with their EP Citrona and would eventually see singles like “August” and “Chicago” help garner the band grow their fanbase outside of Fernandina Beach, Florida where they cut their teeth performing and creating music. On August 19, 2022, the band released their debut album Shadowglow, under Dualtone Records to much anticipation, especially after performing at major festivals including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Shaky Knees, Hangout, SunFest, and Levitate.
Shadowglow starts out with “The Fall”, the guitar immediately coming through in a classic upbeat start that the band is known for. Much of the album centers around feeling helpless after trying, and failing, to find something, whether that’s love or extra time, and these feelings are shown right away in “I thought I found innocence/ In this moment, in this life/ Told myself we’d have more time.”
The album’s third song, “Whales”, was also released as a single, flipturn themselves calling it one of their favorite songs. While it retains the familiar “flipturn sound”, with a strong build-up and impactful lyrics, “Whales” has an extra layer of psychedelic rock that makes Dillon’s already whimsical voice even more dreamy. The tone shifts slightly in one of my favorites, “Sad Disco”, a song all about the need to accept defeat that your time with someone you love is up. The track itself is as groovy as it sounds, with guitar riffs meshed with synth sounds to create what I can only describe as rock n’ roll disco.
Tracks five and six, “Brooklyn Baby” and “Halfway”, were released together before the album debuted, which makes sense considering they’re about the realization that time will forever continue to move by, an idea that continues to ring true throughout the rest of Shadowglow. In “Halfway”, Dillon sings, “‘Cause we were halfway to Houston/ And I didn’t care/ Still smell your lips/ I still taste your hair/ And I did not love you/ And I’m well aware/ Maybe I used you/ But I was almost there.”
The saddest song on the album, and highlight, has got to be “In Consideration”, a heartbreakingly passionate song that displays the grief that comes with the passage of time. Lyrics like “Time just slows, it does not freeze” and “Everything will come/ And it will pass”, paired with the incredible drum beat and slow bass sounds create an emotional song for sad rocking-out.
Flipturn can do more than just indie-rock though; with this new album they’ve also branched out into new genres, experimenting with different beats while still keeping sounds that are iconic to them. In songs like “Hollow”, Dillon’s voice is muffled over for verses, making the clear chorus even more impactful. In “Burn” and “Weepy Woman”, techno beats and electro waves amplify the instruments so everything feels a little extraterrestrial.
The album ends with “Orbit”, an introspective track with one resounding message: “Keep walking”. Overall, Shadowglow is flipturn at its best. With repetitive drum and guitar notes that gradually build up to intense, totally rock-able chorus’, these fourteen songs make a compilation of indie-rock at its finest.
On August 27, flipturn is playing at the Playground Music Festival before starting their nationwide Shadowglow tour, hitting over 20 states to spread their remarkable music and shed light on those who’ve come to listen.
flipturn 2022 TOUR DATES
8/27 – Gainesville, FL – Playground Music Festival
9/16 – Athens, GA – September Days Festival
9/17 – Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle
9/18 – Knoxville, TN – Newground Festival
9/27 – New Orleans, LA – Toulouse Theater
9/29 – Austin, TX – Parish
9/30 – Houston, TX – The Scret Group
10/1 – Dallas, TX – Club Dada
10/5 – Phoenix, AR – Valley Bar
10/6 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
10/7 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom
10/8 – San Luis Obispo, CA – SLO Brew Rock
10/9 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
10/12 – Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s
10/13 – Portland, OR – Holocene
10/15 – Boise, ID – The Shredder
10/18 – Salt Lake City – Kilby Court
10/19 – Salt Lake City – Kilby Court
10/21 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
10/22 – Fort Collins, CO – Aggie Theatre
10/25 – Kansas City, MO – recordBAR
10/27 – Davenport, IA – Racoon Motel
10/28 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
10/29 – Milwaukee, WI – The Back Room at Colectivo
11/2 – Columbus, OH – The Basement
11/3 – Detroit, MI – The Underground
11/4 – Buffalo, NY – Iron Works
11/6 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
11/9 – New York, NY – The Bowery Ballroom
11/10 – Philadelphia, PA – Ardmore Music Hall
11/12 – Washington D.C. – Black Cat
11/13 – Richmond, VA – The Broadberry
11/30 – Louisville, KY – Zanzabar
12/1 – Nashville, TN – The Basement East
12/2 – Greenville, SC – Radio Room
12/3 – Charlotte, NC – Amos’ Southend