Woven Green are at their best when they don’t overthink it, even when their layered influences amount to an absorbing and complex churn. On their latest single “Turn Back Around”, the band sound intimate and a bit more reflective. Their electrifying guitar riffs also evoke so much intensity before the singer’s vocals take over with soaring might. There’s much more stylistic variation between the singer and the instrumentation that it becomes harder to pick the best parts of the song. For the most part “Turn Back Around” chugs along with a slow tempo and light texture, but nonetheless, the band showcase that they are fluid and admirably flexible.
The song is pretty much an ode to mindless impulses written in poetic fashion, encouraging an anxiety-riddled generation to choose happiness over fear. Fear that makes you go down a well-trodden path full of suffering and hardship. More like if you have a gut feeling, maybe you should go with it this time. Woven Green focus on wanting to make music that feels really soothing and cleansing, like a tonic, and “Turn Back Around” dives into this soft glow of warm guitar riffs and heart-melting vocals. It makes you imagine what life could be like if you could silence your inner critic and learn how to overcome challenges the way the singer confidently does.
It also offers an earnest reflection into the mental well-being of many affected individuals in our society. But the good thing is that the singer’s sun-in-the-rain chorus describes a hopeful feeling so good that you momentarily forget you’re depressed. It’s one of the key attractions of any of the band’s records. The band herald their uplifting new sound—but the song’s title, and its buoyant melody, belie the darkness that prickles through its lyrics.
“Turn Back Around” comes into its own when it blends light with darkness, suffusing everything with gentle metaphors. The song proves a decent stab at marrying contemporary production to rare moments of personal reflection. This approach also helps to highlight moments of individual brilliance. This is more evident with the guitar solo where where the section is untangled momentarily from the vocalist and left to drift on a cloud of effects.
The band follow their instincts to make experimental rock that combines the freedom of exploration with poignant introspection. They always take familiar ideas to refreshingly new spaces. For all of the band’s confidence in splicing different sounds and feels, from sweet sentimental acoustic riffs to powerful and stylish vocals, the emotional undercurrent of “Turn Back Around” becomes even more compelling. The song’s focus on the push and pull between the comfort of hazy dreams and a harsh reality, makes it feel alive and resonating among a wider audience. Wading through the song’s sonics is a delight in itself, but discovering the uplifting loveliness buried within the lyrics is especially worthwhile.
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