Good Nature

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Reformed Virginia Beach rockers Turnover settle even deeper into the sun-dappled guitar pop that marked their 2015 sea change from emo punks to mellow dreamers. Beyond the headline-grabbing hard-to-soft transition of Peripheral Vision, their sophomore effort, was some legitimately solid songwriting and the newfound embrace of a more nuanced approach. Having completed that transition, however, Turnover find themselves in a fairly crowded field of amiable dream pop bands whose audiences tend to be fickler than those of the D.I.Y. scene that birthed them. Proclaiming its warmth with a festive, almost-Balearic jungle scene album cover, 2017's Good Nature revels in its own glow of breezy, understated melodies set against backdrops of bright guitar jangle and lush synth pads. Like its predecessor, Good Nature is a generally solid listen boasting a handful of highlights, most notably tracks like "All That It Ever Was" and "Living Small," which break out of the album's affable but undemanding mold using clever melodic shifts and subtle left turns. The overall tone here is of wistful introspection, as if the music were filtered through a late afternoon windowpane. Co-conspiring in the band's latest evolution is longtime producer Will Yip, an emo/post-hardcore/pop-punk staple who himself continues to expand outward from his home genres. While there is plenty to like about Turnover 2.0, they sometimes come across as too easy on the ears, with each song floating pleasantly by without causing enough of a fuss to make it stick. Much like its name, Good Nature is well-meaning and polite, but doesn't do quite enough to distinguish itself.
© Timothy Monger /TiVo