#like. i be out there writing some banger metaphors when the original note is shit like 'something something they're sad'

[cangrellesteponme]

out of context excerpts from my current wip's notes

[drvinyl]

INTERVIEW: FINISH FLAG ON THEIR NEW ALBUM, SWIMMING POOLS

Words by Charlotte Christie

From Greek Mythology to David Hockney, there’s something about swimming pools. With the taste of summer on the tip of my tongue, I long for a place where I can float: stretched out, eyes closed, ears submerged. A place where time would magically stand still; just for a moment. I also quite like the idea of being in a space of self-reflection and rebirth. Particularly as we are halfway into a year that has been so raw it has demanded long awaited social change. Bring on the new dawn, I say. Perhaps that’s why Finish Flag’s new album caught my imagination. I caught up with their lead singer, Dexter, about Swimming Pools.  

For those getting to know Finish Flag for the first time, can you tell me about how you started making music together? Was there a defining moment?

Finish Flag was originally a solo project while I was singing and playing synths in a band called Native Birds. After that band dissolved I started working a lot more on FF and it snowballed from a lo-fi, bedroom pop kind of thing into a full band, with some of the members of Native Birds and Sophie playing guitar and writing with me. Sophie joining was the defining moment - I’ve not classically been an amazing collaborator so learning to not be an intense control freak and to write collaboratively has been the journey of Finish Flag.  

I thought that lyrically there’s a really interesting thread between FF’s albums. Both have this evocative story-telling quality. I know that the track Pisces is inspired by Melissa Broder’s 2018 novel by the same name. Can you tell me a bit more about where you typically draw your lyrical influences from?  

The lyrics are definitely the element of songwriting I spend the most time on, and think about the most. I read a lot, and I’m constantly writing ideas down in the notes app on my phone. For all of 2018 and a lot of 2019 I decided to exclusively read books by women and non binary people and I read some incredible books that massively informed all of the lyrics on the album - ‘The Pisces’, ‘My Year of Rest and Relaxation’ by Ottessa Moshfegh, ‘The Idiot’ by Elif Batuman. They were a big influence in terms of tone, and language, but obviously the content of the lyrics tends to be very personal and specific to my experience. I’m a real pretentious, writing-lyrics-on-the-nightbus-home kinda guy. I don’t think of them as being narrative or anything, they’re often more about loosely trying to capture a ‘mood’ whatever that means.  

Does the title ‘Swimming Pools’ mean anything personal to you? If so, what? 

It’s difficult to explain really, but yeah it definitely does. A swimming pool feels like an apt metaphor for someone’s psyche, in that for some people it can be a comfortable, warm environment, and for the others it can be scary and challenging. There’s something about the way you are seeing a distortion when you look at something underwater that reminds me of how your mind warps what you are experiencing. Sometimes I become aware of the fact that my own anxiety can have a distorting effect similar to that, and it makes it hard to trust my perception of what I experience on an emotional level a little bit.  

Is there any music that has been released recently (2019-2020) that you feel significantly influences the music you create?

There’s so much great stuff around now it’s almost impossible to talk about. I find so much new music constantly inspiring and jealousy-inducing. There’s a few American bands currently that I find super inspiring - the most recent Sandy Alex G album is incredible, ‘Heavy Lifter’ by Hovvdy is amazing, ‘Happy To Be Here’ by Barrie. Also lots of our friends on bands have been hugely inspiring- Jake from Keroleen (the label who put our album out) has a band called Supermilk who’ve made an incredible album this year that really inspired us and made us a little jealous. I also find as I get a little older I’m enjoying and drawing inspiration from a lot more folky, genteel music that’s super simple and melodic - Mount Eerie, Phoebe Bridgers, Matt Kivel, Christian Lee Hutson.  

The sound of Swimming Pools differs from your first album, it has more of a classic American indie sound - can you tell me a bit more about how you came to create that sound? Do you have any creative processes that you swear by? 

The difference in creative process is why the album sounds the way it does, and why it’s different from the first album or the early bandcamp stuff. That stuff was all semi improvised, spur of the moment bedroom pop that I made on my own with a few instruments and as little deliberation as possible. These new songs were worked on a lot more, first just by me, or just by Sophie and I, and then later as a four piece playing them live. I’ve always been very into, and influenced by, American indie rock stuff like Elliott Smith, Pavement and The Breeders, as well as more electronic stuff like Caribou and Burial. Obviously this album is a lot closer in sound to that indie rock stuff just by virtue of it being the four of us in a room playing guitars, but there’s definitely influences from both of those worlds on some level. I’ve recently been thinking a lot about how just showing up is a big part of the creative process - just wake up every day and sit where you write and write away. Just making sure you’re in work mode is most of the battle, and just getting stuff down without being too self critical is key. You can decide it’s shit afterwards but you’ve gotta get it down.  

Is there a specific audience that you are trying to reach with Swimming Pools? 

Definitely very specifically the Pitchfork reading mid 30s music supervisors of American teen dramas. We’re all about that lucrative sync money.

What is your favourite part of this album, and why?  

The chorus of the final song, ‘Over My Dad Body’ is definitely my favourite moment on the album. After a quiet verse, the guitars smash in super loud. It’s something I probably wouldn’t have managed when I was self recording simply because I don’t know what I’m doing enough. Rich (the producer) made it sound BIG and LOUD which really chimes with the emotional stuff in the lyrics. I remember listening back in the studio when we recorded it and we all kicked the air when the chorus came in and I just felt like ‘we did it. We made a banger’. 

This one is for your guitarist, Sophie: I understand you play in a number of other bands (Cheerbleederz, Supermilk and Painter). How does being in Finish Flag differ to working with them?

Sophie: Hello! They are all great and I love playing in all of them!! Finish Flag was my first band so in many ways it’s where I feel the safest! I got better at writing and playing music because of this band, so I’m comfortable messing up and introducing the weirder ideas I guess. 

RIGHT! I always like to finish with something niche.

We're going to play a game: You're trapped in a room for as long as it takes to write a song with one of these two famous musicians. Pick one:

Robert Smith or Siouxsie Sioux? Robert Smith  

David Bowie or David Byrne? David Byrne  

Thurston Moore or Kim Gordon? Kim Gordon  

Thom Yorke or Johnny Greenwood? Johnny Greenwood

Morrissey or Alanis Morrisette? Definitely Alanis. I don’t wanna be trapped in a room with a member of Britain First.

Mick Jagger or Mick Hucknall? Ugh, pass

Keith Richards or Little Richard? Little Richard  

Liam Gallagher or Noel Gallagher but Noel gets pissed off about something Liam has tweeted every five minutes. Also, Liam is in a shit mood? Damon Albarn   Noel then.

Puddle of Mudd or an actual puddle of mud? Definitely an actual puddle of mud

Teenage Fanclub or your own fan club? Definitely my own fan club. All 2 of them!

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