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Interpreting the meaning behind a song isn’t always easy. Sounds that transmit a particular vibe to one person can give off something completely different to someone else. Even lyrics that seem obvious can be misinterpreted — or misheard entirely (“Excuse me … while I kiss this guy”).
For the new single from his VLNTYN project, Milwaukee’s Jorge Vallentine doesn’t go quite so far as to build an entire world for the listener. But he does show them the door.
More accurately, Valentine explained the entryway in notes provided with “Wrong Turn,” the track we’re helping him premiere today. “Through a mysterious red doorframe, a dark world exists,” he wrote about the song, adding that it “carries you across the threshold into that world’s brooding atmosphere.”
The opening moments of “Wrong Turn” don’t so much kick that door in as cautiously extend a hand toward the knob. An ominous guitar lick punctuated by the occasional kickdrum sets the scene while Vallentine laments, “I took a wrong turn too far back / to remember now.” What he remembers with crystal clarity are the choices he made and how they damaged those around him:
Guess I’m no better than my father
Stumbling through lessons I can’t learn
Hurt myself, hurt lovers
Drowning in deeper waters
I took a wrong turn too far back
To remember now
Like the lyrics, the sonic footprint of the track doesn’t offer relief or resolution. The closest “Wrong Turn” gets to catharsis is a guitar solo around the midway point, but even that would rather maintain the tension than provide any kind of release.
The same feeling carries over to the song’s final moments, with another guitar contribution that walks right up to the edge of a wail before backing off and surrendering to an understated final few lines, followed by a few quick hits on the snare that are more ellipsis than period. It’s an abrupt ending that suggests self-forgiveness isn’t in the cards. “A dark world,” to be sure.
You can listen to “Wrong Turn” by VLNTYN on demand using the player at the top of the page or on 88Nine throughout today (7:30 and 11:30 a.m.; 3:30 and 7:30 p.m.). The single’s official release date is March 18, after which VLNTYN will play shows at Ope! Brewing Co, (April 11) and MKeUltra (May 16).