It’s no secret that it seemed like an almost impossible task for Foyer Red to follow up their debut EP, Zigzag Wombat. However, on their latest single, “Flipper,” the band somehow manage to outdo themselves.
The Brooklyn-based quintet headed to a “proper” studio for the first time after they self-recorded, mixed and mastered their debut EP. The band worked with Jonathan Schenke (Snail Mail, Parquet Courts, The Drums) to perfect their zany, reality-bending bops.
The result is “Flipper,” a slightly-off kilter track that blurs the lines between a trip to the bodega and a candy-coated alternate universe. It’s unclear if lead singer Elana Riordan is mesmerized by the store’s snack selection or if she stumbled into a far-away fantasy world. As the track cartwheels through different time signatures, the band get playful with quirky cowbells and twee-inspired vocals.
The band had been toying with “Flipper” for a while, Riordan said in a statement:
The song is kind of disjointed in its short, disconnected sections and in the way its subject vacillates between “reality” and a dreamt-up post-apocalyptic world. It takes on a satirical persona who drones on dramatically about hunger; the kind of silly girl (me) who goes to the bodega to buy more rolling papers and hangs out for a long while looking at snacks, waiting for something to happen. When I see the ending of the song, it is rust-red desert; it is cracked, scorched Earth, with yet again, no consumables! In its big, chaotic ending, the song’s narrator finds rage and strength, in a way that will protect her for millions of years.
Foyer Red also announced a show with Diane Coffee on June 14 at Elsewhere.
You can listen to “Flipper” below.
