“Eleanor” is Who We’ve Been Waiting For: New Single from flipturn

Since April 20, 2018, fans of flipturn have been holding their breath for what is to come after Citrona, the album that lured listeners in by the masses. With the exception of an acoustic cover of “August,” today marks the first new release for the beloved Florida indie band. Returning with the single “Eleanor,” there is no question that the band is ready to usher in a new phase of their music.

Playing home-base hopscotch across northern Florida, flipturn has earned one of the top spots for indie acts on the rise. The five-piece band is built up of Dillon Basse, Tristan Duncan, Madeline Jarman, Adrian Walker and Taylor Allen. While some of them are still finishing up their degrees, the group has managed to spend a solid part of this year on the road touring.

Their new single “Eleanor” is a significant release both sonically and emotionally. This is a song that has followed me across the U.S. in its various states of being. From sweaty, body-filled rooms in Gainesville and through the walls of a modest New York apartment this summer, I’ve gotten to watch “Eleanor” take shape as a fictional figment of music imagery.

To date, this single is the fullest, most dynamic song the band has put out. The sheer power of Basse’s vibrato is a difficult thing to capture in an audio file, but you can feel the wall-shaking properties of his almost gender-ambiguous voice in this song.

“Eleanor” moves from this tender warmth in the outset of the song to an unleashed desperation for the protagonist to take action in the hanging conclusion. That uninhibited energy is mirrored by the rest of the band’s dedicated intensity in telling this story.

I talked with both Dillon Basse and Tristan Duncan about everything from the song’s conception to today’s release. They both agreed that the recording process for “Eleanor” was the most relaxed they’ve felt in a studio setting, which ultimately motivated them to get experimental with the song’s composition.

Basse said that it’s often suitable to take memories from encounters with many different people and combine them into one larger-than-life subject of a song.

He’s not entirely sure on how he landed on the name Eleanor, but once it came to his mind, he liked the way it worked in the song. Duncan calls the single their “trailblazer” that will lead the band and their fans into all that is still to come.

“It’s still us, but definitely going in a new direction,” Basse said. “It’s kind of a third wave of flipturn music.”

The welcomed stylistic change for the band echoes their goal to make each new release the best song they’ve put out yet. flipturn plans on staying busy this fall with new show dates that will be announced soon and another single tentatively slated for the close of the fall season.

“It’s still us, but definitely going in a new direction. It’s kind of a third wave of flipturn music.”

You can catch flipturn headlining the Back to School Fest at Heartwood Soundstage this Saturday and follow them on Instagram to keep up with all future shows and announcements.

Cover photo by Anissa Dimilta

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