Flamango Bay

“Fucking up your mascara is a kind of revolutionary act when society expects women/feminine presenting people to be “pretty” all the time. For me, it was one of the first parts of accepting my gender.” - Ikaika Gunderson on “Mascara”

LA band FLAMANGO BAY announce new EP Mascara, released 22nd March 2024 on Moshi Moshi. Today, they share its title track alongside a visualiser [watch HERE].

Inspired by the riot grrl movement, Mitski’s Bury Me At Makeout Creek and bands like X-Ray Spex, “Mascara” is also influenced by performers who are (or were) expansive with gender expression (Freddie Mercury, Prince, et al).

“In 6th grade I started both crying less and wearing makeup more. A part of me knew that there was a correlation. I started wearing mascara so that I would stop rubbing my sensitive watery eyes. I found that this was a funny metaphor for the fact that I used hyper femininity to hide my trans-masc identity; both from myself and others. Mascara acted as a wall between me and my sensitive nature, blocking a stereotypically feminine part of me with make-up, another stereotypically feminine thing.

“Though I wrote this song while I was out as non-binary, I had not let go of this deeply ingrained idea that pretty meant worth. Fucking up your mascara is a kind of revolutionary act when society expects women/feminine presenting people to be “pretty” all the time. For me, it was one of the first parts of accepting my gender. I was performing femininity so well for so long while simultaneously getting more and more disgusted with myself. Removing what society expected of me and seeing this distorted fucked up image in the mirror was both terrifying and exhilarating. Seeing myself with raccoon eyes and black tears feels better than seeing myself with “nice” makeup.” - Ikaika Gunderson on “Mascara”

Speaking of the visuals that accompany “Mascara”, Gunderson continues: “The visualiser leans into our do-it-yourself ethos and influence. We grew up around zine culture and collage. We think that this song “Mascara” sounds like a lot of the zine culture that we were immersed in: honest, raw, and a little bit rough around the edges.”
 

Formed in high school, Ikaika Gunderson, Dash Goss Post, and Georgia Manou’s soulful fuzzy guitar pop is intertwined with the trio’s shared experiences of growing up in the Bay Area, San Francisco. Now based in LA, their music is borne of their immersion in the west coast’s indie and punk community, as well as their activism in fighting for positive change within it.

There’s a scuffed, lo-fi core at the heart of Flamango Bay’s music but the three-piece are just as likely to work off a lilting swing beat or coax out arcing vocal harmonies as they are to lean into scuzz and distortion. Effortlessly infectious hooks reminiscent of Mitski, beabadoobee and early Strokes.