flipturn is about to make more than a splash. In fact, their much-anticipated debut album, Shadowglow, will make waves when it arrives on August 19.
Videos by American Songwriter
Before gaining a following, the five-piece band—Dillon Basse (vocals and rhythm guitar), Tristan Duncan (lead guitar), Madeline Jarman (bassist), Mitch Fountain (synth), and Devon VonBalson (drums)—began out of a garage in Fernandina Beach, Florida, showing that the do-it-yourself approach to making a band works in the world of TikTok and social media.
Basse, Duncan, Jarman, Fountain, and VonBalson started out as friends in high school, but it wasn’t until the end of their senior year that they came together musically.
“We, me and Tristan, one day, we were studying at a Starbucks, just for an AP class or something. I think it might have been psychology or history. And we’re just talking about music, you know, not talking about actual schoolwork,” bassist Madeline Jarman tells American Songwriter.
That conversation led to something more than just a “what if” moment for the pair. Duncan and Jarman called Basse, who agreed he was down to start a band. A few years later, Fountain and VonBalson also joined the project.
Jarman’s garage became home base for band practices with her parents overhearing the sessions. When the time came to choose a name, the young startup didn’t know where to begin. “So they [my parents] would be like, ‘Oh, what about this? What about that?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’ And, then, they actually suggested flipturn. And I was like, ‘You know what? Maybe?’ Then we looked it up to see if anyone else had that name and they didn’t. So, we snagged it and it stuck since then,” reveals Jarman.
What is a flipturn and why did Jarman’s parents even suggest it? “I was actually a competitive swimmer from when I was six up until 18, and pretty much until I finished high school,” explains Jarman, “And flip turn is the little flip you do at the end of the lane before you start a new lap.” And J-just like that, a flip turn took on a new meaning for the band.
Since practicing out of their family garage, flipturn has gained speed. The group has over 50 million streams on Spotify and served as openers for bands like Mt. Joy, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, and Wilderado. They are currently preparing for their debut album, Shadowglow, featuring four previously released singles, “Playground,” “Brooklyn Baby,” “Halfway,” and “Whales.”
“Whales kind of started as this joke, honestly,” says lead singer Basse. “We were in process of writing and having written all day, we were about to take a break”
“I was playing an F chord but I was making it an arpeggio,” synth-player Mitch Fountain chimes in. “But, I was trying to make it a joke. We were singing over it. I think Devon started drumming to it. And, it was funny, we laughed, and got food and came back and were like—”
“This could be something,” Basse says, finishing his sentence.
“Then we switched that [synth] idea to the guitar,” adds guitarist Duncan. “We realized it was actually kind of cool.”
“Yeah, and once we did that, and Devon was playing on a beat, I laid down the bassline” continues Jarman. “You’re like, oh, it’s a completely different vibe.”
“Whales” begins to take a turn in seriousness as Basse describes the main themes surrounding the song.
“[It’s about] dealing with a lot of pressure and accepting that feeling of when something becomes overwhelming,” he says. “You just feel like you want to go, not to quote the song, but literally numb.”
Duncan adds that it feels like “the pressure of [being] underwater. When you’re underwater, you feel the pressure of everything. I think there’s also this escapism, especially when it comes to dealing with the pressure of things.”
Along with the subject matter of pressure and dissociation that comes with “Whales,” Shadowglow, as a whole, details themes like self-actualization—a method that can help you escape from pressure and dissociation. “Whales” introduces the problem, but the album becomes the cure.
Self-actualization is commonly seen as the full realization of one’s potential or true self. Furthermore, it goes deeper into the awareness of one’s growth—seeing the path of your choices that intertwine and stretch out like veins. These paths make up the whole self.
When one acknowledges their ability to make different choices, they can begin to foresee other potential paths. Thus, seeing choices that will make them whole. It is through this wholeness that one can bring themselves up from underwater, or the numbness that Basse referred to in “Whales.”
These themes play out on Shadowglow, marking year two of its origins.
Basse describes the album’s beginnings “with this writing trip we took out to Arizona in 2020. With the pandemic and everything, we wanted to kind of just get away and lock ourselves in a cabin for a few weeks. And, we chose a really awesome spot out in Arizona. [We] just took all our gear, drove out there, set up shop, and started creating. That’s where I’d say a lot of the main sounds from the album started.”
In comparison to their most recent EP, Something You Needed (2020), flipturn saw their songwriting process mature. Not only did they find inspiration in the natural world of Arizona, but, as time went on, their approach to songwriting and the sounds they created developed. Production was made smooth with the help of LA producer Jon Gilbert, who guided the process and made the band’s vision come to life.
Following the release of Shadowglow, the band looks forward to bringing their project to life and reproducing what they’ve done in the studio for a live audience. They’re also excited to put on their own music festival, Playground Music Festival, in Gainesville, Florida, where the band first got their start. You can check out their tour dates and tickets HERE.
Photo Credit: Amanda Laferriere; Artwork by Micah Lomel
