06.14.24 - Flowerbomb's "Gloom Scroll Vol. 2" EP Release Show
A recap of the band's latest EP and highlights from the release show at Comet Ping Pong, feat. Ammonite and Pinky Lemon.
Vol. 1: The Interview
I’ve got to hand it to suburban Alexandria: the place looks pretty damn idyllic on a Sunday evening.
Coasting along at a deferential 25mph (my lead foot was recently tranquilized by a speeding ticket courtesy of the K street tunnel traffic camera), I’m able to drink in the details from my peripheral vision. There are no hard edges here. Sun dappled sidewalks wend through neighborhoods at a gentle incline. Canvas storefront awnings billow languidly in the early evening breeze, undulating gracefully like the skirts of a debutante traipsing across polished parquet floors. Bulbous hydrangeas and hazy clusters of purple milkweed populate the gardens of red brick single family homes which line either side of the street. The homes, too, have not been immune to the palliative effects of the environment, their once sharp corners now buffed to smoothness by the gradual accumulation of soft blows from the mild Virginia climate.
I pull into a residential side street and put the car into park. I’ve arrived at my destination twenty minutes early. Being too much of a cheapskate to sit in my car with the AC blasting for that long, I opt for a quick walk through the neighborhood. I figure it’ll be a good way to kill time and do some last-minute preparation for the forthcoming meeting.
The neighborhood’s domestic charms are even more apparent when witnessed on foot. Lush foliage spills from well-kept backyards into better-kept front yards. An orange tabby lopes past, ducking under a hedge before I can entice it closer. A tidily dressed couple—I’d clock them at mid-thirties—strolls by with arms loosely intertwined; I perceive the soft swell of the woman’s pregnant belly as she passes me. I have stumbled into a Better Homes & Gardens columnist’s wet dream.
“A tidily dressed couple—I’d clock them at mid-thirties—strolls by with arms loosely intertwined; I perceive the soft swell of the woman’s pregnant belly as she passes me. I have stumbled into a Better Homes & Gardens columnist’s wet dream.”
One of the houses I pass varies wildly from its neighbors. The yard is exploding with greenery—not the low-maintenance shrubs and demure ground cover plants you’d typically see in a Northern Virginia yard, but a profusion of blooms and tall grasses and woody shrubs that tangle together in eccentric asymmetrical shapes. I spy a placard in the yard: “2023 Award Winner: Alexandria Beautification Commission,” and beside it another sign which offers information on starting your own pollinator garden.
It’s nice to know that somebody on the City Council has an appreciation for a slightly wilder form of beauty (wild by Alexandria standards, at least).
I check my phone and realize I have five minutes to get back to the designated meeting place. I wave goodbye to pollinator paradise and book it back towards my car.
Now four minutes late, I arrive at my destination: a two-level red brick building that resembles an old school house, with aqua-blue painted doors and window trim. I try the side entrance. The door handle yields to my tentative tug, opening into a narrow westward facing hallway that concludes in a staircase. The entire left side of the hall is occupied by a massive multicolored mural depicting a woman with blue skin wreathed in some groovy looking flowers. I’d give it a closer look, but my attention has already been captured by something else which fills the space with color and warmth.
It’s the sound of music, slightly muffled, cascading down the stairs along with the last golden rays of evening light. Ears pricked and curiosity piqued, I gravitate to the sound.
It traces back to an emerald green door at the top of the staircase. The threshold itself seems to pulse with energy, as if it’s barely holding at bay the sounds emanating from the other side: thunderous drums, shimmering guitars, and a siren-like voice that strikes a rare balance between tender and tough. I raise my hand to knock on the door, but I realize that doing so would break the pleasant spell I currently find myself under. So I hesitate.
Feeling suddenly bashful and out of place, like a grade schooler who managed to sneak back into their teacher’s classroom during summer break, I scurry back downstairs and wait for the music to subside of its own accord.
As you’ve probably guessed, the music is what brought me here. The band behind that curious green door is Flowerbomb, the Wammie awarded genre-melding alternative indie rock band who, at the time of our interview, are poised to release their second EP, Gloom Scroll Vol. 2—a four-track companion to Vol. 1 which dropped in January of this year. I’m meeting them during the week of their EP release show at Comet Ping Pong, so I imagine what I just heard was the tail end of one of their final set run-throughs before the much anticipated gig.
I snap to attention when I hear the loud metallic snick of a doorknob being turned upstairs, followed by footsteps. The band arrives, greeting me with warm hugs and hellos, and leads me up the staircase at the end of the hall (not knowing this is now the second time I’ve climbed it). As I’m guided through the space, I spy traces of Flowerbomb nestled in every nook and cranny. A bulletin board by the front door displays one of their show posters from 2021 advertising a string of shows at DC9, PieShop, and The Pocket. Upstairs, I spy a yellow velvet loveseat that’s made multiple appearances in Flowerbomb music videos. Across the room sits a bass drum with a freshly applied custom head sporting the Gloom Scroll cover art.
I’m offered a selection of teas and some hot water in a little blue ceramic cup that reminds me of the kind used for sadō, or Japanese tea ceremony. It fits snugly in the palm without a handle, allowing the warmth of the hot drink to seep into your body before it even reaches your mouth. I grab a sachet without checking its flavor and plop it into the cup. Chai. I open up my notebook and quickly scan through the questions I jotted down earlier today, searching for the right point of entry to begin our conversation.
When in doubt, I usually fall back on talking shop. We start by discussing the promotion and release strategy for Gloom Scroll—why release it as two volumes? Dan ABH, the band’s drummer who played a major role in the production and engineering of the dual EPs, shares that the split didn’t have a thematic purpose per se, but inadvertently ended up showcasing two emergent threads in the evolution of the band’s sound. The first EP leans into the band’s alt rock roots with heavy chugging and distortion on “1998,” a fat punchy snare on “Do It Again,” and powerhouse vocals throughout. Side note: I am in awe of the way the vocals are mixed on both of these EPs. Slightly on the dry side, but never dull, with loads of natural texture and character that shines through even when the compression gets turned up. They seem to sit right in the very center of the mix, blended effortlessly with the guitars and bass. Honestly, I don’t know enough about mixing to be able to do it justice with words. Listen for yourself and you’ll get it.
![A photo of the members of Flowerbomb reclining on the floor of a photo studio with a plain white backdrop.. A photo of the members of Flowerbomb reclining on the floor of a photo studio with a plain white backdrop..](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa4b11d0b-2253-4375-b6b1-c1ac9d806212_2400x1600.jpeg)
The second EP gets a little bit “viby” with tracks like “Cool” and “Weird Place” that are loaded with lush, atmospheric guitar tones. I am told that Connor White, Flowerbomb’s lead guitarist—who, like ABH, has production and engineering credits on the EPs—masterminded the guitar tones in a weekend blitz last summer. He tells me that he kept his setup pretty minimal, using just a couple of amps and pedals to achieve a wide range of sounds that excellently complement the other instruments and vocals on each track. I’m always impressed by guitarists who have an ear for production. Connor clearly has a keen sense of how to dial in his tones to best serve the needs of each song. When we get to talking about our favorite artists later in the conversation (specifically, “Whose music made you think to yourself, I can do that, I want to do what that person is doing?”), he includes in his list Johnny Mar, Alvvays, and Omar Rodríguez-López. The Smiths and Alvvays definitely checked out as sonic reference points, but Rodríguez-López was an unfamiliar name to my ear. To the similarly uninitiated: your homework for today is to go give his latest album Is it the Clouds? a listen; if you enjoy cosmic, experimental, genre-bending compositions that employ a huge range of guitar tones, you’re in for a treat.
Gloom Scroll Vol. 2 also includes the indie pop standout “Soulmates,” which kicks off with an incredibly hooky synth line that threads nimbly between the other instruments throughout the entire song. It’s a particularly impressive track for the way it shows off the band’s ability to incorporate elements from many different genres while still maintaining a coherent and immediately recognizable sound across their discography.
There is one crucial component I’ve not fully expounded on yet which is arguably the cornerstone of Flowerbomb’s sound and ethos, and that would be the vocals—specifically, the vocal performances of Rachel Kline and Abby Rasheed. While Kline, the group’s lyricist and lead singer, is heard most prominently on the tracks, the group emphasizes to me that they approached Rasheed’s harmonies from the perspective of a complementary main vocal part rather than merely backup vox. Their blend both on the record and in their live shows is so impeccable that sometimes you might not even perceive them as distinct voices, but rather as a singular, full-bodied instrument. This is used to great effect in the Gloom Scroll EPs, where the doubled vocals add even more emotional weight to Kline’s confessional songwriting. The lyrics across Gloom Scroll explore themes of isolation, monotony, and cyclical patterns of thinking that entrap and stagnate us—as well as the complex feeling of sometimes wanting to stay in that destructive loop, or at least finding comfort in the familiarity of it. For those of us who are still working to shrug off the mental baggage accumulated during the COVID-19 lockdowns, these songs are bound to strike a chord. And while Kline notes that the pandemic certainly played a role in the development of these themes, the stories in these songs can also be read within a broader emotional context.
“The lyrics across Gloom Scroll explore themes of isolation, monotony, and cyclical patterns of thinking that entrap and stagnate us—as well as the complex feeling of sometimes wanting to stay in that destructive loop, or at least finding comfort in the familiarity of it.”
As we converse, I notice that the street outside the southward facing windows is now pitched in inky cobalt light. I don’t need to check my phone to know that a good chunk of time has passed, though it feels as if the conversation could go on into the night. But sleep is a precious (and limited) commodity for DIY musicians—especially on the week of a release show—so I decide it’s time to take my leave.
As we collect our tea cups and migrate towards the door, Rachel hands me a Flowerbomb teeshirt to take with me on my way out. Rolled-up shirt in hand, I thank the band for taking the time to meet with me. I take my leave out of the side door that I entered through a couple of hours ago.
The slightly humid June air stirs up an overwhelming feeling of drowsiness that was kept at bay earlier by the lively conversation and the AC. I take my time walking back to my car, drinking in the well tended lawns and thoughtfully arranged flowerbeds of suburban Alexandria with what little light remains.
If any of you keep up with trends in guerrilla gardening, you’re probably familiar with the concept of “flower bombing.” It involves scattering seeds of native flora across unused public spaces as a way to reinvigorate biodiversity in areas where urban development has stripped away the preexisting plant life. I won’t get into the weeds of the pros and cons of this tactic (hah) when it comes to actually yielding the desired environmental impact, but I think it’s an apt metaphor for the work we musicians take part in when we engage our creativity.
A song is not unlike a seed. Each one is a precious kernel jam packed with memories, influences, sentiments, hopes, regrets, opinions, idiosyncrasies. We keep them close to the chest, for a while, but we ultimately understand a seed can’t be nurtured in the darkness of a clenched fist. So we let them go. We cast them to the wind with the hope that maybe some of them will land on fertile ground and take root. And if we’re really lucky, those original seeds will sprout and mature into fresh blooms, and those blooms will bear new seeds so that the cycle can repeat on and on into perpetuity.
I pause in front of a yard that looks especially pristine. I dig into the front pocket of my jeans and confirm what I already suspected; I sensed they had appeared the moment I stepped out of the schoolhouse building.
I take the seeds out and cup them in my right hand, letting a couple of them roll down the slope of my palm into the grooves between my fingers. I close my fist. There is time for one more look at the immaculately mown lawn that lies in front of me—one more look at the insipid perfection of a blank slate—before I pull back my arm and let them fly.
I watch each seed’s graceful upward arc and descent until they are all swallowed up between the blades of grass. It’ll be a while before anyone sees them again, but when the time comes they’ll be hard to miss.
I wonder what the Alexandria Beautification Commission will have to say about that.
Vol. 2: The Gig
It’s late, a little after 10:00pm. I’ve been waiting for the rain to pass before heading inside Comet—one of those early summer downpours struck the minute I was going to step out of the car, so I’ve been holed up in here with a book while raindrops constellate on the windshield.
As quickly as it began, the storm subsides. I hop out and hurry towards the glow of the venue, stepping gingerly to avoid fresh puddles.
On my way in, I run into a familiar face: Nate Groves, one of a cadre of DMV photographers who show up time and again to capture shots of local bands at work. Waiting inside are two other mainstays of this group—Sandi Redman, and Chris of Roxplosion—whose camera work has bolstered many a fresh new band with content to fill out their online presence.
It’s a packed room, filled with noise from the front of house and chatter from friends and fellow musicians catching up before the gig.
![A photo of the four members of the band Flowerbomb performing to a packed room at the DC venue Comet Ping Pong. A photo of the four members of the band Flowerbomb performing to a packed room at the DC venue Comet Ping Pong.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7bde6539-035f-4310-ba71-2ef8f9823357_2048x1365.jpeg)
At approximately 10:30pm, a sound rips clean through the din like a crystal dagger: it’s a pristine three-part harmony sung by the members of Ammonite, who are officially my new favorite band in the DMV (you can put that on the record). Listen, as someone whose top artists of all time include Sleater-Kinney and case/lang/veirs, this is like the trio of my dreams: fuzzed-out guitar tones and grungy riffs mixed with melodious harmonies and the kind of feral lyricism that sounds like it came from a reclusive but frighteningly beautiful mountain witch who spends her days conjuring up spells to exact righteous retribution on the world that shunned her? Sign me up.
“…fuzzed-out guitar tones and grungy riffs mixed with melodious harmonies and the kind of feral lyricism that sounds like it came from a reclusive but frighteningly beautiful mountain witch…”
Ammonite’s set is followed by Pinky Lemon, who envelop the room with an impenetrable wall of sound composed of dreamy keys, slick riffs, and a rhythm section that pounds out beats with machine-gun levels of intensity.
Before long, it’s time for Flowerbomb to take the stage. Their set spans both volumes of the Gloom Scroll series, showing off the full spectrum of their sound as it coasts from punchy alt-rock to sultry indie-pop to somewhere in between. Midway through the set, Jay Nemeyer—songwriter/vocalist for D.C. indie dream-pop band Color Palette—adds in on acoustic guitar for a handful of songs. The set ramps back up again from that point, concluding in a high-energy performance of “Messy” that elicits some seriously cathartic head-banging from the crowd.
As the band prepares to leave the stage, there are calls for just one more song. Rachel and Abby, smiling in their matching black and pink bodysuits, deliberate for a moment and then return to center stage. They decide to do an unplanned encore of “Lukewarm,” an earlier Flowerbomb release which happens to be the first song I ever heard by the band. Rachel strums the first chord tentatively, then dives in. Abby’s voice slides in beside hers like a ghostly twin. As much as I enjoy the original recording, I love even more getting to hear the song performed in this pared down version. I close my eyes and drink in the music, silently mouthing the lyrics as I hear them echoed back to me.
After the encore finishes and I’ve said my goodbyes, I take my leave out of the side door that I entered through a couple of hours ago.
The slightly humid June air stirs up an overwhelming feeling of drowsiness. The parking lot is studded with reflective puddles leftover from the earlier rainstorm; I tiptoe around them in my black Mary Janes, trying to avoid taking an accidental dip.
I pause in front of a puddle that looks especially pristine. Peering into its reflective surface, I think back to that yard in Alexandria and the seeds I scattered there. I wonder if this rain has caused any of them to sprout.
On a whim, I pick up a handful of gravel from the pavement. There is time for one more look at the immaculate puddle that lies in front of me. One more look at the insipid perfection of a blank slate before—
Let them fly.
Keep an eye out for Flowerbomb’s upcoming D.C. shows, including a performance at Black Cat to celebrate their split EP release with Pretty Bitter on August 9, 2024, featuring Brooklyn-based band Pop Music Fever Dream.
The band is also slated to perform an acoustic set on July 6 at The Pocket for Sam Elmore’s Hateful Days EP release (hey, didn’t somebody write an article about that a while back?). The bill will also include acoustic performances from Gallows & Curl and Miri and Mel of Pretty Bitter.