NME's Rhian Daly on Flasher's Flasher EP

Washington DC trio Flasher are hard to pin down. ‘Destroy’, the track that accompanies the news their debut EP is to be re-released, marks them out as devotees of Morrissey and all things indie jangle.

All swooning melancholy and Taylor Mulitz sighing about how he “just want[s] to be your boy”, it evokes the lushness and solemnity of The Smiths’ back catalogue.

However, the rest of the self-titled seven-track record does not follow suit. ‘Tense’ rumbles with Joy Division post-punk darkness, abrasive guitar strokes slash through ‘All Over’ and the wiry ‘Make Out’ turns getting it on with your latest Tinder match into an exercise in self-doubt and second guessing (“Is this becoming/Or am I just succumbing?”).

‘Love Me’ has shades of something more hardcore, howls of “why don’t you love me?” bolstered by fragmented riffs that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Fugazi record.

Flasher’s most explicit influences might stem from decades gone by, but that’s not to say they’re living in the past. Comprised of members of other DC bands Priests, Big Hush, Bless, Trouble and Young Trynas, the trio are at the forefront of their city’s underground scene.

This re-release comes via Sister Polygon Records, run by the aforementioned Priests and previously home to Providence breakthrough punks Downtown Boys.

Flasher may not be as overtly political as DBs, but they’re about to follow suit in taking their chaos into the overground.

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