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There’s a nervous energy to “Tense,” the first track off D.C. trio Flasher‘s debut EP. It kicks off with a single sparse, reverberating note from guitarist Taylor Mulitz, before the rest of the band—bassist Daniel Saperstein and drummer Emma Baker—join in, establishing the shimmering, anxious, and sometimes raucous post-punk sound that defines the band’s forthcoming seven-song tape, out April 8 on D.C.’s Sister Polygon Records.
Like the title suggests, the track is tense, but the trio’s overlapping vocals and its goth-tinged style of post-punk is oddly soothing. It’s a style not that far removed from Bauhaus and The Cure‘s early goth phase, but Flasher’s sound is entirely its own. All three are in accomplished local bands in their own right—Mulitz with Priests, Baker with Big Hush, and Saperstein with Bless and Trouble—but Flasher is far cry from the sound of any of those bands. And for that matter, any other band in the D.C. area right now.
You can preorder Flasher’s self-titled debut tape here. The band plays with Gaucho, JJ Doll, and Zipper on April 10 at Open Studio DC as part of Damaged City Fest. More info here.
Photo courtesy Sister Polygon Records