To celebrate the 10th birthday of the seminal record, the harbingers of fourth-wave emo have spent most of the year on an extensive anniversary tour. On the 13th of September it was London's turn to bathe in the sunlit melancholy of Turnover’s classic, and as a queue amassed outside iconic venue The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, it was clear that the evening meant a lot to so many.
As the summery haze slips away into September’s familiar petrichor, ‘Peripheral Vision’ is an album that perfectly captures the feeling of the change in seasons. It is the sonic equivalent of feeling the sun on the skin of your face and seeing the warm glow through the skin of your eyelids as you try to sleep in the back of the car. Its raw and confessional lyricism clings on to the listener, lead vocalist Austin Getz casual tone a gentle sledgehammer to the skull.
The band, as well as the album itself, have developed a cult following, and as the floor packed out the buzz in the air was thick and nostalgic.
The first band to take the stage was the ethereal shoegaze outfit Glixen. The band sauntered into their set with a cool disposition backed by a palpable excitement; the ribbons on vocalist Aislinn Ritchie billowing as the band set up.
Their sound is the perfect cocktail of shoegaze staple guitars with siren-song vocals, an enchanting start to the night and a perfect expanse of the more dream-pop adjacent moments of ‘Peripheral Vision’. In fact, both openers seemed to represent different elements of the album's sound. Glixen are a band to watch, disciples of Slowdive with a gothic edge, they are a delight to watch. The show fell on bassist Sonia Garcia’s birthday, which resulted in a beautiful moment of 3500 singing her happy birthday - the bond between band members a strong and sweet display.
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As the Pretty in Pink soundtrack blared over the loudspeakers and the sea of people began to swallow the remaining pieces of empty floor, the lights dimmed once again and Wicca Phase Springs Eternal graced the stage.
This is an expansive project by founder of Tigers Jaw Adam McIlwee. In its infancy the project was initially electronic focused, but with his upcoming album Mossy Oak Shadow on the horizon this performance showcased his proficiency for stripped back guitar music. Immediately an entirely different vibe to Glixen but equally as complimentary to Turnover, the country-tinged emo folk danced its way around the room. McIlwee’s nomadic lyrics and sombre twang harken back to the lonesome cowboys of the mid-century like Lefty Frizzell and Lattie Moore. The set was a joy to watch and to listen to, a transportative moment that consumed the audience within its world.
Emotions were heightened as Turnover took to the stage. A life-defining album for so many, hearing the opening notes of ‘Cutting My Fingers Off’ sent the audience into a euphoric frenzy. As frontman Getz sang the album’s opening line “I found a picture that we took when we brought in the new year” there came an immediate gut-punch, a swift hit to the back of the head. The volume of the impassioned sea of bodies bordering on that of the speakers. The atmosphere soaked in that sunny sadness, the twinkle of the guitars drenching the air. The crowd hung on every word; friends, lovers and strangers holding each other, sharing the seemingly unending moment of sheer joy together.
The stage’s setting, a large draped and knotted piece of fabric towered over the band, representing the overarching sound of the record. At times it resembled a sweeping forest, other times it the walls of an ornate ballroom, sometimes the arms of a beast or a jagged cliff face. The staging played expertly into the listening experience, conjuring the poetic sense of the sublime that ‘Peripheral Vision’s presence brings.
As an album, it is a unit, a whole body of work that feels like sacrilege to separate, but a standout moment was undoubtedly ‘Take My Head’. The bouncing of the crowd and the arms flung in the air in catharsis. The audience’s zealous screams of “Cut my brain into hemispheres/ I want to smash my face until it's nothing but ears/ I want to paint my drain with a little red stain tonight” was an immense mass release.
Indisputably one of the best emo records from the 2010s, it is no surprise that the cult of ‘Peripheral Vision’ was out in full force to give back to the band that brought it into the world. Getz spoke to the crowd towards the end of the album, he emphasised their appreciation for all the support the UK crowds had and continue to have for the album. He spoke of the half-sold small shows the band were used to playing in America back in 2015, and the surprise they felt when they arrived to play in the UK to sold out crowds who already knew all the words to every song. This show was one of Turnover’s largest headline shows to date, and even though a decade has passed the innate passion felt by their crowd is still festering.
As the album closed, Turnover launched straight into a set of newer songs. A welcome treat for their devotees. The crowd loud as ever, taking their final chances to revel, swallowed up by the dense euphoria that beamed from every person in the crowd. Screams continued to erupt with every song, crowdsurfers stormed the barricades and spirits were high. Ending on ‘Most of the Time’, the band said their final goodbyes and shared their gratitude before leaving the stage.
‘Peripheral Vision’s legacy ten years on is one that permeates the scene, its influence on the trajectory of modern emo cannot be understated. The performance was magical, to experience such an impactful body of work so intimately was a privilege the crowd did not take lightly.
Eylem Boz
Images: Pupat Chenaksara (@pupatlive)
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