Indie rock band Flipturn casts a 'Shadowglow' at District Live

Indie rock band Flipturn is about to embark on another tour and is kicking it off with what promises to be an electrifying show at District Live on June 30.

With a slate of appearances at big music festivals including SXSW, Bonnaroo, Shaky Knees and Lollapalooza, as well as high profile supporting tours with Mt. Joy, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, and Wilderado, Flipturn’s star has been rising rapidly.

Flipturn was formed in 2016 in Ferrnadina Beach, Florida by high school friends Madeline Jarman (bass), Tristan Duncan (lead guitar), and Dillon Basse (vocals/guitar), with the later addition of Mitch Fountain (synth) and Devon VonBalson (drum). The name Flipturn comes from competitive swimming, which Jarman participated in for most of her young school life. Flipturn came up in the Gainesville music scene playing for enthusiastic college students, and developed a reputation for infectious onstage chemistry and entrancing vocals from Basse.

“I think, especially, our live show has improved, since we started back in 2016,” said Jarman over the phone. “I think we’re a lot more comfortable on stage and coming out of our shells.”

There is an especially harmonious synergy amongst the bandmates on stage, with Jarman and VonBalson’s foundational rhythm section, Duncan’s evocative guitar tones, Fountain’s atmospheric keyboards, and Basse’s dynamic, Jeff Buckley-like vocals.

Shadowglow releases Aug. 19

Flipturn has released several fan-beloved EPs and singles, but is finally gearing up to release the band's definitive debut album, “Shadowglow” on Aug. 19.

Is it a culmination of previous work or a new direction for the band?

“It’s kind of both,” said Duncan. “I know going through this record we had some member changes. Since it was the pandemic, we had a lot of time to sit with everything, but this record definitely is the culmination of everything we wanted to do before. Working with our producer Jon Gilbert in L.A., we wanted to go out there with everything in terms of what we were hearing in our heads. Overall themes and overarching ideas, there’s the idea of self-actualization and trying to understand oneself. What it means to have self awareness.”

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Gilbert, who produced Mt. Joy’s terrific debut album, was the secret ingredient for “Shadowglow.” Flipturn is known for its live shows, and Gilbert’s greatest strength is being able to capture live energy in the studio.

“We’ve been missing that over our last several years of recording. We’d go to studios and it would never land the way we wanted it to. It missed this energy or ‘umph’ to everything. Working with John, I think he was able to capture the live sound.”

Jarman added, “On top of that, the songs on this record don’t necessarily all sound the same. We have some softer tracks, some harder tracks, and I think ‘Whales’ is a good representation of both sides of what the album is as a whole.”

“Whales” is the latest single from “Shadowglow,” and features a guitar lick that indeed sounds very reminiscent of whale song.

“We called that one ‘Whales’ because Tristan’s guitar line sounds like it’s buoyant,” said Jarman. “We saved it in our notes as ‘Whales’ and it stuck. The whole feeling of being under water and pressure came from that.”

“Shadowglow” is a massive release for Flipturn, with 14 songs spread across double vinyl.

“It definitely doubled our discography,” said Duncan. “We’re also trying to set the precedent for the future of Flipturn. We want this to be our foundational point to make more music on and new records in the future.”

If “Shadowglow” marks Flipturn’s growth as artists, one thing that hasn’t changed is the collaborative spirit between the bandmates and how they construct their songs.

“We still write pretty much the same way we did six years ago,” said Jarman. “As cheesy as it sounds, we like to jam out and play together. We’ll try to think of a cool idea. Tristan might come up with a cool guitar lick and we’ll build off of that. It’s so long of instrumentals, just playing things until we figure out parts we’re liking, structure, but definitely the music comes first and we build upon each other until we’re like, ‘This is cool. Where can we go from here?’ Kind of based off of the music is where we get inspiration for what the song is going to be about, the emotions and feeling that come out of the music.”

In their previous visits to Savannah, Flipturn played an acoustic set at the Sentient Bean and later a gig at the former Jinx. The venues seem to get bigger each time they return, which is fortunate because their evolving sound needs a big space to spread out.

“I think people can expect to have a lot of fun,” said Jarman. “We like to get our crowd jumping and clapping and having a good time, so we definitely like to feed off of their energy.”

Joining Flipturn at District live are former organic farmers-turned-psychedelic folk rockers Illiterate Light. The duo of Jeff Gorman and Jake Cochran put on a remarkable show with Gorman playing guitar while simultaneously providing synth bass with his feet, and Cochran whacking a standup drum kit.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Flipturn casts a 'Shadowglow' at District Live in Savannah Ga