Flipturn’s Burnout Days: The Perfect Album for Lost Twenty-Somethings

Flipturn’s latest release Burnout Days captures the chaos, insecurity, and crippling self-doubt that often underscores the brief farewell between adolescence and adulthood.

I’ve been following Flipturn for quite some time, but admittedly I wasn’t necessarily wowed in this way up until their sophomore album. They’ve evolved into what I believe is their peak (so far, of course), truly finding their sound in the balance between the intimate, shaky acoustic qualities of their past and the gorgeous, modern production of their new material. Among a long list of other emerging artists, this is a band you want to look out for. I think they’re one viral TikTok sound away from absolutely exploding in popularity, and I cannot wait to see them continue to blossom.

As I listened to the album for the first time there was a resounding point I kept going back to. This album is for the recent graduates, for the floaters, for the lost twenty-somethings. It is the shoulder to cry on, the perfect dance partner, and everything in between.

How The Album Came To Be

Burnout Days was recorded in a seventeen-acre pecan orchard nestled between west Texas and Mexico. To quote the band specifically, they stated “The whole environment really shaped the sound of the record” and upon further listening, that sentiment blooms further and further.

While the production takes you on wild rides through synthy cosmos and gorgeous layered vocals, the lyrics often portray a self-reflective, and at times deeply self-critical, mental space. It underscores that feeling of looking out at a beautiful landscape, feeling the smallness of your life in proportion to the immensity of everything else. 

Despite its expert craftsmanship, Flipturn’s work carries a unique DIY feeling to it. And a rugged honesty that I think we’re all a bit hungry for. The songs meander through topics of family trauma, drug addiction, experimentation, and self-reflection. They translate the feeling of lostness into sound. And more than that, they express the essence of looking around feeling the weight of your confusion and fear, and seeing the same things reflected in your friends, and yet still finding such joy and hope within each other. It’s a gorgeous juxtaposition they capture here. Between young and old, light and dark. Full and empty.

To put it simply, it captures that nervous feeling of coming back to your hometown as a visitor rather than a resident. And the strangeness of something so familiar suddenly feeling entirely foreign. 

The Singles

The album bursts open, starting off with two singles: “Juno” and “Rodeo Clown”. The second one being, in my opinion, not only a standout of the album but a hint at what’s soon to come. I mentioned before that the album discusses heavy topics like drugs, experimentation, and self-actualization, and this song covers all of the above.

A recurring lyric goes, “ I’ve thrown my reputation around, I’m not a man with too many enemies, I’m just a rodeo clown”. To me, this sort of dampens the blow of the fear that young people often have. The ultimate question of personal goodness. This song to me states, “You’re not a bad person, you’re just young, and you’re just an idiot”. The song continues expressing this feeling of floating and coasting by, further highlighting the confusion of figuring out who you are and how to interact with the world.

Sunlight

The fourth song on the album was when I experienced what I like to call, my “lock-in” moment. That second and a half where you realize what you’re hearing is not only beautiful but profoundly important and deeply worthy of noting. The vocals are gorgeous and are used as an instrument of storytelling as the song progresses. They grow with passion, and grit, furthering that raw earnestness I mentioned before. And for that reason alone, this song is easily a favorite. 

The lyrics go hand in hand with that notion as well. The point is stated plainly and poignantly right away. The very first words read: “Everyone’s been asking me, ‘Honey, how you gonna handle yourself?’, looking at the family tree, it might be something that you’re dealt”. The song goes on to name that elusive “hand”: addiction. However, I think anyone with a vaguely messy family line (so everyone on earth, really) can relate to growing older and seeing the reality of those who raised you and their impact. 

This theme persists, stating names of family members and their flaws one by one. A favorite line of mine goes, “James is always out of town, he never leaves, he doesn’t know how,” and then it continues: “It’s such a shame they’re so predictable, everyone has their principles”. Stating very plainly and again, the harsh reality of realizing how flawed and in some way broken you and everyone you know truly are. And how in some way we’re all just fractals of whoever came before us.  

If there’s one song to tune into within this album, “Sunlight”, is surely the one.

Swim Between Trees

For young people living through the situationship epidemic, “Swim Between Trees” is another highlight of the album. This song captures that free-wheeling sense of urgency with young love, and the intensity that comes with it. Affection turned to aggression and then to something else entirely. The song walks you through a relationship from start to end in a perfectly poetic and yet somehow concise way. 

Again with this song, Flipturn’s songwriting skills are unmatched. Starting with the dawning of love, the lyrics are tender and sweet, and yet tinged with fear. The way young love often is. It starts: “betting on angel numbers knowing that the clouds would cover, stormed in you stole my thunder, we still learn about each other” and then continues “I know you like to sing, but I’m more of a hummer, the day I learned your tune I knew I’d never hum another”. It’s gorgeous, and it perfectly paints the whole bodied obsession that comes from limerence and the period of time where you know only a bit about someone, and fill in all the gaps yourself. 

The song persists and crescendos later, stating the lyrics: “Yes you have me on my knees, yes you can do what you please, you bought into everything commercial as a cold-foam cream”. And then immediately after: “All this time I can’t believe you’re still coming home with me, my minds a river draped with leaves and you’re still swimming through the trees”. It captures here, the emotional whiplash that often accompanies youth and vulnerability. Not knowing how to love someone kindly or carefully, yet trying to and later failing. It’s beautiful and real, and something most young people have lived through.

Audience Reactions

I stated my thesis regarding who this album is really for, but it’s not just me who feels this way. With an album that covers such universal and yet deeply personal and unique facets of life, it’s not surprising that many people found home and solace within it.

To me the album feels like catching up with a childhood friend. Someone who once knew you and now longer does. You’re older, more flawed, more experienced, and yet that connection you forged no matter how long ago, still exists somewhere.

Community and Relatability

One of my favorite parts of discovering music is looking at audience reactions, and the perfect place to start looking is Youtube comments. It’s interesting the way people often leave mini biographies and confessions there, and with an album like this one it certainly urged people to do so.

I think this is in part due to the sound of the album. Whether it’s the rasp in the vocals, or the twang in certain guitar riffs, it echoes the sound of a group of friends making music in their garage. This down to earth vibe makes people feel safe and heard. So, with that in mind, it’s understandable why their comments are often flooded with mini diary entries from their fans.

Under Flipturn’s songs discussing love and loss, people left short tellings that give you an earnest glimpse into their lives. For songs that were more so about trauma or earnest tellings of personal flaws and mess ups, people mentioned similar journeys in their lives.

Lasting Impressions and Final Thoughts

I say this album is specifically tailored for confused, and lost young people for a few reasons. Often what’s needed most in a transitional life period is community. Whether it’s graduating, moving out, or starting a new relationship, all of these occurrences in someway pull the rug out from under you. So much of youth, and growth, is uncomfortable, so knowing there’s other people going through something similar, can be really therapeutic.

Overall, I believe so deeply in Flipturn and their movement. I said it before and I’ll say it again, they are just a few months and one stroke of viral luck away from expanding beyond comprehension. And to the recent grads, the drifters, or to those who just need someone to talk to, this album is the one for you. It seems universally connectable, but for you guys in particular, it is absolutely perfect.