Flasher returns with new album ‘Love Is Yours’ on June 17 | News | Domino
Turn signal announce their new album, love is yoursoutside June 17and one North American tour (tickets are on sale this Friday at 10 a.m. EST). Additionally, they share the album’s first single/video, “Next to.“The debut of the group in 2018, Constant imagewas a triumph – a set of songs both dizzying and explosive, between new-wave lushness and post-punk frenzy. love is yours intensifies ambition and reaches the horizon. The record is ablaze with vibe, melody and neatly threaded hooks, finding the band at the forefront of pop sensibilities that had always been present in their previous releases. It retains the attitude that was fundamental to the band’s DIY roots, but removes a touch of angst. Although the songs deal with disillusionment and loss, the music evokes warmth and optimism. It’s their best record and also their most generous.
The single and video “Sideways” (directed by Camille Smura) evokes the sense of liminal stillness of a long-distance commute – attentive but adrift, relaxed but reflective – with a laid-back groove that is both motorized trance and bogie fluid. “Lyrically, this song uses metaphors about driving as a means of escape/reflection,” Mulitz said. “I have found that a lot of self-reflection and great accomplishments arise during a long drive where I am forced to sit with my own thoughts (hence the idea of the race video) .”
Following the release of Constant image and successful tours, it seemed like the music scene in Washington, D.C. was ever-changing. Flasher was not spared a reshuffle. Bassist Daniel Saperstein parted ways with the band. Guitarist Taylor Mulitz would eventually decide to move – first to Baltimore and then to Los Angeles, making the band bi-coastal. Working as a duo took a bit of recalibration. The songwriting process changed drastically, but in a way that quickly began to be energizing. “Once we had that implosion, we let go of the pretense and the limits that we had locked ourselves in,” Mulitz said. “Going into this record, the vision was quite simple: we wanted to write songs that came intuitively. We leaned into that while consciously creating a real space of trust and openness.
Now a duo, guitarist Mulitz and drummer Emma Baker had to reinvent Flasher’s voice. love is yours was recorded in Washington, DC with a longtime friend Owen Wurker, who also helped flesh out the instrumentation by adding bass, percussion, synths, and guitar. Rather than tying the duo to their past—geography, old habits, or trusted sounds—the familiar surroundings proved liberating. Working in Wuerker’s well-appointed home studio allowed the inspiration to arrive untimely. With no shows in sight, Flasher could relax by presenting themselves as a “rock” group. Baker and Mulitz shared vocal duties, tweaking tempos, structures and dynamics accordingly. They played with genre, melody and texture.