Helping to thaw out the leftover winter chill is new music from Damn Right!. The Philadelphia by way of Brooklyn trio comprised of Tommy Bradel, Johnny Fissinger and Matt “FLOTE” Tripodi just released Frozen Sun, a natural cycle of seasons, spaces and nine different holidays for you to sample through.
Opening with a splash, “Like Oceans” cannonballs into the water, sending initial chill waves rippling through your head. Johnny's vocals provide a little bit of homemade soul on the midnight mood of “Small Spaces”. Angelic and festive, like the tone of a celestial coronation, color the glowing keys on “Halo”, while the title track “Frozen Sun” shines like a previously forgotten planet reemerging from a galactic ice chest somewhere. The manner gets mellow and contemplative with “Mystics” while “Pyramids” surveys relatively ancient audio architecture through today's production filters and sensibilities. Keeping the focus on interstellar elements, “Stars” provides the planetary gaze with an atmospheric vibe not unlike that of an observatory. In “[The Focus]”, the rhythms ride their own wild axis. “Maui Falls” wraps up the electronic experiments of Tommy and FLOTE, concluding your vicarious vacation by the water on a peacful Pacific island paradise.
Damn Right! talked to us about the group's development into a trio, his thoughts on Philly music scenes and more.
What do you all enjoy about the network of Philly art scenes these days?
It's really a special time to be in Philly right now. There are so many hard working artists doing great things in every circle out here yet there is never a sense of competitiveness like you tend to get in some other cities. Everyone is just kind of doing their part for the better movement of the city. Plus being an artist in Philly is fantastic; it's inexpensive, it's within ten hours of about 15 major markets and not to mention the beer scene is pretty rad.
How do the three of you synthesize these soulful elements of singer-songwriting into Damn Right!'s electronic mix?
To be honest, it just seems pretty natural to us. It's mainly a combination of what we're all into lately. With all this power at our fingertips these days we're trying to find a fun balance between real world aesthetics and synthesized matrix shit. We are all synth geeks so even if its folk or rock it still seems natural to us to keep a synth heavy mix.
What places lent inspiration to songs like, “Small Spaces”?
“Small Spaces'” stems from my relationship with my girlfriend and I while living in separate cities. I wrote it on a bus ride from Philly to NYC then Johnny and FLOTE built off of that idea. It's dark and weird but the truth, similar to the rest of this album!
Take us to where you all have shifted from All the Colors to Frozen Sun?
All of the Colors was us reaching out of the current style we were in at the time and Frozen Sun represents a more complete shift towards that style. I think the ultimate goal is more folk music with future elements. Frozen Sun is also our first album as a trio with Matt (FLOTE) in the band so that brought a new element as well.
What are you all listening to over there lately?
Tycho, Bibio, Clu, Com Truise, Teen Daze, Lindsay Lowend, Nosaj Thing, Pregnant, Figgy…gotta give a shout out to SONGZA. Those playlist are hip as shit!
Summer plans for Damn Right!?
We're looking to keep the ball rolling. We have a mixtape of summer jams that we will be putting out soon, maybe some more singles as well. We have a few east coast dates late May-early June in support of Frozen Sun, as well as some festival sets at Riverbend Festival and Silopanna Music Festival.
Frozen Sun is available now via Bandcamp.
