Flipturn Cements Signature Sound with Sophomore Album “Burnout Days”
It’s here. Flipturn’s much anticipated sophomore album, Burnout Days, was released on January 24, 2025. Given the quality of their previous work, including three stellar EPs and their debut full-length album Shadowglow, it had a lot to live up to. As a long time fan, I anxiously awaited this release, hopeful but nervous—I have loved this band since I was in high school, and often a sophomore album is what determines whether or not a band has staying power.
With this record, Flipturn has proven that they do. It balances the tightrope that arguably all music must, but especially sophomore albums, in that it simultaneously cements their signature sound while still providing new and exciting elements. It is an album with no bad songs and no skips, an overall cohesive nature, but each song still finds a way to be distinct.
The first track, “Juno,” feels like an entrance. Somehow it is both shockingly new, yet it feels like it could have been one’s favorite song for ages. Lyrically, it portrays the ever-in-flux life of a touring band, making references to their van named Pegasus with the first lines of each verse, respectively, “Peggy's got a good bass, a good bass,” and “Peggy's got a V6, she's iconic.” In the first pre-chorus, they start to tap into emotion with, “But when I'm home, I can't close my eyes / So into the night.” This and many lyrics that follow express an affection towards their lifestyle of traveling and touring and going with the flow. What is even more fitting is that as soon as one hears the song, without even paying attention to the lyrics, it sounds like it is designed to be played live on a stage.
Keeping with the established theme of fluidity, the second track, “Rodeo Clown,” seems to float into the listener’s ears. This was the first single released in September about four months before the album, and in the time between now and then it has quickly become a fan-favorite. Though this may not be everyone’s first listen of “Rodeo Clown,” that fact certainly does not detract from the magic of hearing it in context of the album.
“Inner Wave” sounds like dancing around in one’s apartment. With an optimistic beat and playfully strummed guitar, the song makes it seem like everything is simply going to be okay. The central lyrics seem to be “Now wait for the wave to carry me / Oh it's inevitable you and me.” These lines, with the constant threading of “I believe in you” throughout the track enforces the uplifting feeling.
“Sunlight” is a personal track for lead vocalist Dillon Basse. The second stanza of the first verse, “Amy’s on her way to rehab again / Lily’s gonna drive her there / Every ounce of gas that she has / Mama, she’d take you anywhere,” is a reference to when he watched his little sister take his mother to rehab. The rawness written into this song is felt and heard by listeners; it is one of the most powerful tracks on the album. While the track is about a specific experience for Basse, its lyrics can resonate in all sorts of ways, lines reflecting on truth and how it can be different for different individuals, or a fierce devotion to one’s home, or the urge to continue—showcased at the very end of the song with the simple repetition of “I try, I try, I try.”
Filled with short lines and punchy lyrics, “Moon Rocks” goes silent at the end, separating it from the next track, “Right?” Though “Moon Rocks” is, of course, on par with the album’s overall high quality, “Right?” deserves to stand alone. All band members are credited as songwriters for this track, and their true talent is apparent here. What is most striking is the rhyming. While fresh, engaging rhymes are not exactly novel for Flipturn, there is something about this song in particular that feels noteworthy and gripping. The chorus is a showstopper,
“But all you're asking for / Is just a little more time / To prove some existence / In some existential war / Through all the blood and gore / Cause people admire persistence.”
The song as a whole forces listeners to take a clear look at their values and what it means to be an individual in the world we live in today.
“Window” taps into what Flipturn might be best known for: nostalgia. “Swim Between Trees” is another lyrical masterpiece. The album’s momentum continues into “Tides,” which is another deeply nostalgic track, but approaches that nostalgia from a different angle. The song discusses the inevitability of change, and then the acceptance of that fact with lyrics such as “It's coming, change is coming fast / (The world reacts) / And you're making sense of it all / Saying is it so bad?”
After the short but powerful “Reason to Pretend” comes the penultimate track, “If It Is.” This track is one of the most intriguing on the album, as it seems to harken back to the band’s most well-known track, “August,” released in 2018. There is something about the sound of “If It Is” that is particularly reminiscent of “August,” and it almost seems that the singer could be speaking to the same subject. Though distinct and containing a more mature sound, perhaps “If It Is” could be some level of follow up to “August.”
Save the best for last? This would seem impossible, since the album as a whole is consistently incredible, but somehow, Flipturn managed to pull it off with the final and titular track. This track is the most excellent example of the band being able to hold on to that sound that sets them apart from others in the general indie/alternative genre. Yet, it does not feel stale—“Burnout Days,” like the album at large, shines uniquely. In the final lyrics, Basse belts out a promise: “I love you baby / Oh and I'll love you baby / For the rest of your burnout days.”
