Playing to a sweat-soaked crowd of 20 people, Flasher, a Washington, D.C.-based trio, headlined The Bishop Bar, performing in Indiana’s 80-degree humid weather. Their newest album “Constant Image” was released last week on Domino Records and they stopped in Bloomington June 19 to promote the new sound.
Floating melodies and a grungy mood of instrumentals make up Flasher's style of music. Their lyrics are an ambiguous take on existence, never naming the exactness of their subject, according to a review written by Pitchfork.
“It’s an East Coast, Midwest tour with DEHD from Chicago,” said Taylor Mulitz, the band’s guitarist. “We’re all in one van together, it’s been very summer camp-esque and extremely fun.”
Opening the show with a late start was a Cincinnati-based band, Swim Team, playing for a small audience. Swim Team is just three hairy thrash-pop guys helping one “bebanged” post-riot girl out of her frustrations, according to its Bandcamp website.
“I like how they were excited to be on stage and how Flasher showed their support for the other bands,” said Skye Huffman, a sophomore who attended the show.
According to Flasher’s drummer, Emma Baker, the band spends half its time touring and the other half working various jobs. Baker said touring is of course the better half, even with the heat.
“I haven’t played in a room this hot in a while,” said Baker.
Flasher played the final set on the damp and dark stage in The Bishop, where Mulitz and bassist Daniel Saperstein synchronized their voices and harmonized to sing the melodies of their songs.
The last time Flasher played in Bloomington was at WIUX’s Culture Shock in 2017, where the band played with artists such as Post Animal and Noname. According to their Bandcamp page, Flasher appeared with a self-titled album in April 2016. The work for "Constant Image" began in Brooklyn, New York, and was recorded over a few weeks in 2017.
After Bloomington, the band plans to head to Cincinnati to play a free concert June 20 at North Side Yacht Club, with DEHD and Swim Team in tow. Mulitz said he hopes that the show will be a wild one.
As for their show at The Bishop Bar, besides the heat, the members of Flasher enjoyed it. According to their Bandcamp page, Flasher will continue to tour in the fall, when they will eventually end up in Europe, visiting the U.K., France and Spain.
“It was really hot, but the show was great and this place was cool, sounded great and was quite fun," Saperstein said.
