There was a bad review of Turtlenecked's Vulture last year on Pitchfork — Ian Cohen called it at turns "exhausting" and "insufferable." And watching the young Portland musician's comeback video for "To-Day," I can see how someone could make that assessment of a scrawny bleached blond guy who starts with the line "Seize the means of production" over a screen grab of Super Smash Brothers.
One minute into the clip, Cohen (or, I mean, "Cohen") texts Turtlenecked checking for new music. At this point, the video has already broken its own fourth wall, and we're watching it being made in a college library cubicle. (Turtlenecked's contact info on Bandcamp is his college email address.) Exhausting, insufferable, etc. I getttt ittttttttttttt.
I don't mean to take sides because my only real care is "To-Day," which I really like. Don't know exactly what he sings on this, but he sings it right. I like when Turtlenecked does the smily Lil Uzi dance at 2:20, the same as I like watching the Americana king Juiceboxxx live and the even weirder and less-self-aware videos of Western Mass's Lucy, both of which seem to inform whatever Turtlenecked is doing here. It's just a really fun song.
High Scores of the Heart, his new EP, comes out April 27 via Good Cheer Records, on cassette and as a download.