A soft spoken and vintage-clad audience swayed, jumped and briefly moshed at the Turnover concert at The Summit last night. The two openers, Summer Salt and Mannequin Pussy, set the tangibly “DIY” sound and aesthetic of the show with jewel-toned lights and distinctive guitar effects.
Summer Salt has been described as tropical rock, which paired perfectly with the punk rock from Mannequin Pussy and dream pop/indie rock form, Turnover. All three bands are relatively new, Turnover being the oldest, starting out in 2009. After Mannequin Pussy finished their set, the Turnover crew piled various sized tube TVs on the stage and after a few minutes of standby, they all beamed with a “Good Nature” tour name graphic reminiscent of the 1990s.
Turnover took the stage with little introduction, and started their set with the fan favorite, “Supernatural” which was greeted with enthusiastic shouts. Though most crowds would be bummed to hear a show didn’t sell out, the sparse audience matched the relaxed nature of the band perfectly.
During their set, the tube TVs switched to calming and perhaps strange videos that bounced unpredictably across the screens. One of these small videos was of a hand slowly turning a clementine in an admiring way, and another was a dashboard view of an open road surrounded by greenery, reminiscent of the color scheme in the Good Nature album cover.
Arguably, one of the best parts of the show was the merch tables. Summer Salt was selling some very cute t-shirts with almost doodle like graphics, as well as some collectible “baseball” cards featuring the three band members. Turnover’s merch very clearly understood the aesthetic of its crowd, as the shirts and bags all felt more like vintage pieces rather than traditional tour-fare, but was clearly representative of the band.
Turnover’s setlist was clearly crafted with intention, as the songs seamlessly transitioned from harder hitting to softer sounding. This harmony of energy and calm parallels each individual song Turnover produces, as well as the artwork and design from the band. If audience members were seeing Turnover for the first time, they were surely thrilled to witness a band whose physical performance so perfectly matched their sound.
You can contact CU Independent photographer Phillip Mckenzie at Phillip.Mckenzie@colorado.edu