In Conversation With #084 - Finish Flag
North London indie-rock four piece Finish Flag have just released their second album ‘Swimming Pools’ via Keroleen Records. They took a moment to talk to us about working with producer Rich Mandell and using art to make sense of the world.
Hey Finish Flag, so your album ‘Swimming Pools’ is out now - how does it feel?
It feels amazing! We've had a handful of bandcamp releases of varying audio quality floating around for a few years but this finally feels like a real album by a real band. We spent much longer than usual refining these songs and playing them live, which I obviously hadn't done when Finish Flag was more of a solo bedroom project. I think it sounds lush and loud and dynamic, which are possibly qualities the old stuff doesn't have in spades.
This is your second album, how does it differ from the first?
Well, the main difference is sonic. The previous album, Hey Also I Love You, is super reverb drenched and vibey, with lots of electronic experiments. This album is short and concise and simple. It's just the four of us - guitar, bass and drums, with a few bits brass embellishments from my friend Sarah. That's it. It was also recorded in an actual studio, and Rich is a great producer, so it just sounds great.
The album is being released via Keroleen Records - how did that partnership come about?
We played a bunch of shows with Jake's old band Doe (RIP) a few years back and became great friends with them. After we made the record we sat on it for ages, wondering how to release it. I guess we must have gone on and on about it at one of our many millions of pub visits with Jake (side note - I just remembered pubs and started openly weeping) because he kindly offered to release it on Keroleen! Jake is one of our very best mates so to do this with him has been a pure delight on every level.
Does the title have a certain meaning behind it?
Swimming Pools are places I find very relaxing. My dad is an absolute deranged 100-lengths-a-day swimmer and taught me to swim very early, and I've always felt at home in a pool. It feels like a rich metaphor for your internal comfort zone - the pool is warm, keeps you afloat. The rippling water also distorts things, which feels apt when talking about mental health, which is a theme of the album.
The album was produced by Rich Mandell, from the band Happy Accidents. What was it like to work with him? Any behind the scenes stories from the record process?
Rich is famously a real bastard, so it was a waking nightmare to be honest... Just kidding! Rich is a sweetie pie and we loved working with him. He produced Sophie's other band, Cheerbleederz, and she had a great time working with him on that. I have always been a reluctant collaborator and general control freak, so to allow Rich in to these songs and having it be such a joyful and rewarding experience is one of my most vivid feelings about the record. As for the stories - where to even start! One day we had a pizza for a lunch, and that's just he tip of the iceberg.
The album’s opener - ‘Garden’ was the first track you wrote together as a band. Can you tell us what it is about?
I mean, the four of us have been writing together in different combinations for a decade, so it didn't feel particularly new in that respect. Garden is about looking after yourself when you're very fragile and sensitive. I guess I was thinking a lot about my need for external feedback to feel good about myself, which is hard for me to deny as someone who enjoys playing songs and being applauded on stage. It's about trying to resist that a little and provide that positive feedback for yourself.
What would you say are the key themes and influences on the album?
Lyrically, it's pretty solipsistic and self reflective, but also touches on ideas that are continually floating around my head - that the world is a scary, violent place and we need art to make sense of that. Although that makes the album sound a little more serious than it actually is - there's a song called 'Over My Dad Body' for christ's sake. As for influences - they're pretty far reaching. It's influenced by classic indie rock stuff, like Pavement, Built To Spill, The Breeders. There's also so, so much amazing stuff around now that is super inspiring too - Jay Som, Frankie Cosmos, Sandy Alex G, Frank Ocean, Phoebe Bridgers, Matt Kivel, Lower Dens. I could go on all day.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the album? If so, which one and why?
I think I realised when we put the vinyl packaging together that lockdown has slowly mushed all of the lyrics out of my brain and I dont even know them anymore. I'm guess I'm pretty pleased with 'walking past endless vape shops, how do they make their money?'
Now the album is out there, what next?
The very immediate future is that I'm going to drop some vinyl copies of the album off at my bandmates Nathan and Rob's houses, as I haven't seen them in 10 weeks. We've tentatively started thinking about writing a new album, which I think will be a little different. Me and Sophie have made some little instrumental demos, so that is exciting. We can't wait to play shows post album release, which feels like a long way off, but if definitely something to work towards.