Always Turn Away

Song Meaning

Mark Eitzel's "Always Turn Away" is a masterclass in melancholic resignation, a sonic portrait of emotional evasion painted with the stark beauty that defines his best work. The song, seemingly simple on the surface, delves into the complex dance of avoidance within a decaying relationship. Eitzel doesn't shout; he whispers of the quiet disintegration, the unsaid words that become chasms. The opening lines, with their imagery of "pools across the tidal plain / That look like white sheets draped across / The vacuum beyond our conversation," establish a landscape of bleached emptiness where connection should be. The "white sheets" evoke both surrender and a sterile covering, hinting at a relationship suffocated by unspoken truths. The "vacuum" is the palpable absence where intimacy once thrived. It's not just that the conversation has stopped; it's that the silence itself has become a destructive force. The recurring phrase, "Always turning away," isn't just a description; it's a diagnosis. It speaks to a fundamental inability to confront the issues at hand, a habitual retreat from vulnerability. The ocean imagery, with the "tide" making decisions and the water kissing "the soft skin under your disguise," suggests a yielding to forces beyond control, a passive acceptance of fate. This isn't about fighting for the relationship; it's about succumbing to the inevitable pull of its demise. The "pearl accordion" line, though characteristically Eitzel in its unexpectedness, further emphasizes the feeling of something precious and fragile being slowly squeezed and ultimately silenced. But there's a flicker of something more in the final verse. The image of lying "on our backs, gleaming like liquid pearls," under the sun offers a momentary glimpse of beauty and shared experience, albeit tinged with the awareness of its impermanence. The line "Gives us to any justice that'll have us" is particularly poignant. It suggests a willingness to accept whatever consequences may come from their inaction, a weary submission to the judgment of time and circumstance. Ultimately, "Always Turn Away" is a song about the quiet tragedy of drifting apart, the unspoken anxieties that fester beneath the surface, and the haunting beauty of accepting defeat with a strange, resigned grace. It's Eitzel at his most devastatingly perceptive.