Today Turner Cody releases his second single, "Telling Stories" from his upcoming album Friends in High Places on Capitane Records. Friends marks a departure for Cody. Produced by Nicolas Michaux, it combines the American roots textures that have long been the cornerstone of Cody's sound with a more nuanced sonic landscape. "Telling Stories" particularly exemplifies this departure. Though fans of Cody may recognize his signature style of lyrical symbolism, they may be surprised the song's clean 1980s musical references.
"Telling Stories" feels like a confessional ballad mixed with a meta-commentary on "the current times" all set to what could have been an outtake from the Dire Straits circa 1982. Cody sings "I'm telling myself stories about the future / what will disappear and what will last / everything around me is getting newer / and I'm telling myself stories about the past". The lyrics speak to the uncertainty of the current times - the sense we all have that we are on the cusp of some unknown new thing on the horizon as we watch our pasts become history. Though it was written years before Covid times, "Telling Stories" eerily evokes its uncertainty, when, for instance Cody sings "The high-stakes drama was a letdown / we don't know what was real and what was fake / the plot turned on some dime novel romance / now we're telling ourselves stories for our sake". We don't know what was real and what was fake. How often do we find ourselves asking this question in 2021? But Cody's writing aside, it's lead guitar player Clemence Nourry's performance that steals the show on "Telling Stories". Nourry's playing is the perfect accompaniment to this four minute long, meandering, epic ballad. Mark Knopfler himself would have to tip his hat. Nourry's playing is nothing short of exhilarating. It must be heard to be believed.
Turner Cody is a prolific recording artist with a career spanning twenty years. His song "Corner of My Room" was featured in Jacques Audiard's Oscar-nominated 2009 film Un Prophete. He came up in the New York City anti-folk scene alongside The Moldy Peaches and Jeffrey Lewis, and has toured Europe extensively with Herman Dune and Adam Green. For the better part of a decade, Cody has focused on studio albums that hew to the traditions of American writing and recording, while always staying unique and true to himself. Cody's greatest gift is his poetry: his songs tell stories of love and loss, sin and redemption, alienation and toil, and spiritual longing. Turner Cody considers himself to be working in the tradition of great American songwriters going back to Stephen Foster, and including Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, Chuck Berry, Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan
Friends in High Places is Turner Cody's first release by the Belgian music collective Capitane Records. It was produced by Nicolas Michaux and features The Soldiers Of Love. It is a new sonic direction for Cody, now in the hands of Michaux's combined touch of minimalism, attention to detail, groove, and texture. Friends in High Places will be released worldwide by Capitane Records on June 4.
Check the single HERE.