Review: Thenheturnedaround’s Avant-garde Pop Album Rewards Those Who Give It A Chance
A BOLD INTRODUCTION TO HIS ARTISTRY — This past April, thenheturnedaround (THTA) released his debut album you look just like someone i knew in a past life, a sprawling effort that demonstrates at times exquisite production and an eager songwriter still rough around the edges. Initially, it was clear what this album was. Maximalism. The kitchen sink. The songs that don’t lose themselves in heavy effects will shine through, but everything is heavy.
There is much to like on a project THTA describes as avant-garde pop. Listen closely to the end of the textured opener “charcoal.cries!” where a serious whisper turns humorously Gen Z. “Existential but I still want to,” his spoken vocal is interrupted before completing the rhyming scheme, “Who are we when we run out of luck?” Then, there is “homes, yellow,” which seems to be THTA’s ideal for the album. Without ditching his sonic curiosity, this song remains emotionally accessible. He doesn’t interrupt the melancholy, he amplifies it. THTA juxtaposes maximalism with minimalism in this song, a technique he returns to for great effect. “Field” grabs the baton from the prior song, delivering more of THTA’s fidgety, uncanny brand of pop. What follows is the brief, hyper-pop song “pop hit” and “excerpt °,” an affecting acoustic guitar and vocal duet, beginning washed out and playing itself into clarity as he sings, “You can tell I come alive, when you tell me that you’ll drive, through the city half the night, just to tell me I’m alright.”
Avant-garde it is, but pop? Only sometimes. THTA gives everything; no musical idea goes unexpressed, as if it’s his only chance to make music. But he finds sticky grooves and catchy hooks that ought to stay longer than they do: the latter part of “bask+”, a minute and a half into “field”, the end of “excerpt °” — all of “excerpt °.” Many of his ideas are worth exploring, and I hope he leans into these ideas with his next release. Rest a bit more on the laurels of a catchy theme, and make “pop hit” a pop hit.
Having produced popular songs including “Not a Home” by Pardyalone, THTA has a knack for layering, transitioning, building unique sections, extending and compressing time, and recording visceral vocal performances. He shows off these skills whenever possible. It may not all work, but it is fulfilling when his ideas click because the sound is singular. And it seems next to impossible to make music that feels completely your own. But there may be a sweet spot between the neverending search for a wild new idea and a traditional song structure, developing ideas that previously worked in the song. Neglecting this convention can produce a disconnect between the music and the listener — but what if that’s the point?
Maybe the refined sweet spot for him is something like “Hello Honeybee, Goodbye Butterfly” by Deaton Chris Anthony… but maybe that’s just not him. THTA describes you look just like someone i knew in a past life as loneliness and connection in the digital age. Loneliness manifested itself as he “worshipped these online spaces that offered connection to others online until I was about 19 or 20. It seemed to fuck up my sense of societal worth.” Yes, it’s kind of punk the way THTA rejects the desire to be satiated by a chorus, but it’s more than that. A world of increasing means of connection is somehow lonelier than ever, and the sporadic nature of certain songs and the lack of repeating sections support this lens. The listener is given much to grasp but can’t quite hold onto anything. With this emotional context, the album’s oblique qualities that may not otherwise move the average pop listener become repeated, developed ideas. The hyperactive ideation, decay, and echoes that almost entirely drown out songs clarify themselves. Extreme distortion and reverb feel heartfelt. The longing of “numi, numi,” the piano improvisation near the album’s end, deepens. The lyric from the opening track, “I just make the art that you’re tied to” resounds. All that initially stuck out now feels distinct and necessary and would only work on this album.
My parents wouldn’t know what to do with thenheturnedaround. But that’s half the reason we listen to what we listen to (the other half being, “It’s what my parents played”). It’s usually a sign of something new. You look just like someone i knew in a past life is a self-written, self-produced tour-de-force that introduces a daring artist and grows on anyone who keeps spinning it.
Thenheturnedaround continues to produce for other artists and release singles for his artist project in the future.
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