The story is simple. There are two people who are about to meet. The build up to their union is palpable in the nervous excitement leading up to the moment they say hello and is all unraveled in Matt Koelsch’s “’Turn Around.”
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“‘Turn Around’ narrates the romantic tension between two people that connect with each other in a public space,” Koelsch tells American Songwriter, “and the suspense and fantasy that builds in each of their minds after that initial moment.”
Featuring a duet with country artist Christie Huff, “Turn Around” is a jazzed up old-school standard wrapped around the whimsy of love. Delicately weaved, Koelsch and Huff harmonize around lighter tones during more uncertain times, and the message is clear that love, indeed, can conquer all.
“We have been writing and pre-producing ‘Turn Around’ over the past year,” says Koelsch. “The song started as a chord progression idea I had in a hammock one day at my friend’s wedding in New Hampshire.”
Based in LA, Koelsch, a New England native has been writing around his own life experiences from 2018 debut EP Thinking of You. Co-produced with Eugene Toale (Kanye West), Thinking of You was a reflection of Koelsch’s move to LA, and has spilled into 2019 single “All My Friends” and now the slower churned “Turn Around.”
Recorded along with the Quartet405 at the Capitol Studios in Hollywood was a dream come true for Huff, who hopes that the track’s classic vibe and timeless love story will connect to most people, especially during these heavier times.
“‘Turn Around,’ to me is the classic love story of every hopeless romantic’s dream,” says Huff. “[It’s] the idea to long for someone to notice you… I relate, because I am definitely a hopeless romantic and have definitely dreamed of somebody to just turn around so we can begin our epic love story.”
