Flasher

***Formed in 2015, FLASHER is TAYLOR MULITZ (guitar, vocals), DANIEL SAPERSTEIN (bass, vocals), and EMMA BAKER (drums, vocals). Longtime friends, they are also established members of Washington, D.C.’s recently re-emergent DIY music scene. However, while Flasher is a product of that crew, its music operates by different physics. Where their local peers favor direct and volatile gestures, Flasher’s music exists in the tension between conflicting feelings and sensibilities. In the sometimes gritty context of a DIY venue, Flasher manages to project a bit of sensuality. They explore the overlap between aggression and intimacy. Originally, released on cassette in April of 2016 and now reissued on vinyl, the band’s self-titled debut includes seven songs recorded at Lurch, a studio run by Saperstein and Owen Wuerker (fellow D.C. resident and member of Big Hush). The songs are born from a process of deconstruction and reassembly. Melodic motifs are transmuted into fodder for the rhythm section. Call and response vocals warp and skew established gender roles. Lyrically, the trio take on experiences of shame, guilt, and pleasure, and haul them away from abstraction toward a place of physical expression. The songs are intended as experiment in how far a body—whether composed of flesh and bone, or melody and rhythm—can be restructured and reinvented while remaining desirable or even functional. The results speak to the band’s transformation over the last year, both in personal matters and as artists.