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Flip Top Head photographed by Freddie J Willatt
Bewitchingly experimental, Up Like a Weather Balloon is full of ambiguity and intrigue, leaving listeners much to interpret and imagine.
Brighton sextet Flip Top Head's debut EP arrived on 15 November via Blitzcat Records, produced and mixed by Theo Verney. It blends post-rock chaos with poetic jazz hues to create a self-made and self-coined 'orchestral cult rock' sound. Packed with angular rhythms, melancholic textures, and adventurous crescendos, the record catches you off guard in its beautiful strangeness.
Each track offers a world of its own. From the tension between aging's orderliness and loss of creativity in 'I Can't Wait Until I'm Old', with delicate brass and sarcastic refrains, to the theatrical spoken word musings on messy identities in 'Weightlifter'. The ghostly calm of 'Marie's Interlude' flows seamlessly into the psych-tinged joy of 'So Much for Mole Catching', before the wonderfully grotesque narration of a faithless, fingernail-less vicar in 'Parish Café Meetings'. The EP concludes with 'Jesse Paints the Houses', exploring themes of introspection and depersonalisation, climaxing in maddening vocals and searing instrumentation. Flip Top Head's debut is a cacophony of experimental sound and storytelling that deserves close attention.
We had the total pleasure of catching up with 4/6 members - which we think is pretty good going. The band's journey began as a Colchester trio with Bowie Bartlett, Bertie Beer, and Harrison Spooner, eventually expanding their lineup to include Marie Freiss, Harry Giles, and Ollie White. Fast-forward a few years and the band have hit the major milestone of having a physical EP release, designed and directed by them right down to the papier-mâché balloon on the cover. Ahead of the release, the group hit European cities including Paris, Brussels, and Rotterdam for Left of the Dial, before returning home to celebrate their accomplishment with a series of EP release shows.
With two lyricists, Bowie and Bertie, the writers often blend original poems and ideas to form songs, breaking from linear convention and creating the potential for layered interpretations. The EP's lead single 'So Much for Mole Catching' was quite literally inspired by a chance encounter with the son of Somerset's Mole Catcher of the Year. Yet, on our first listen, its lyrics painted a picture of tender intimacy, as though describing tracing moles on a lover's skin. Something the band intends to steal - and is welcome to steal - for future interviews. In the studio, Theo Verney infused the track with his own visions of Victorian streets and town criers, crafting rich atmospheres and delving deeper into the band’s soundscapes.
These small moments - chance encounters, stranger's stories, and personal interpretations - have shaped the EP's meaning, not just for listeners but for the band themselves. As best put by Ollie, "It's nice to find out what our EP is about."
What's the story of Flip Top Head?
Bowie: So we started off as originally a three piece in Colchester, which is where me, Bertie and Harrison are from, and also Alfie, who was in the seven piece iteration as well. Then we moved to Brighton and met Marie and Harry through uni. And then Ollie joined, after a little party.
Ollie: I saw Flip Top Head a couple of times, and really liked them, and I wanted to join another band. Then I got all drunk at a party and asked to join the band. Bertie said yeah and that practice was on Tuesday. I went and then they were like, "cool, we’ve got a gig tomorrow."
Your beautiful debut EP, Up Like a Weather Balloon, was released last month. Congratulations on receiving 4-stars from NME! How does it feel to have your first body of work out in the world, and on vinyl too?
Bertie: We recorded the songs in December 2023, so it's a great deal of relief and happiness. It’s also nice that people like it because I’m really bad at disliking songs quickly. Holding a record in your hand that you’ve made is a weird feeling.
Ollie: That was when it hit me! I remember looking at my dad's records when I was little and thinking they were sick, like, those lines are music?! Then I got to hold my own music. It was cool.
Bowie: What's different with the vinyl release compared to normal release is that it's not just a single piece of artwork. You have to think about what's going on the front, what's going on the back, what we want to say, what's going on the middle sticker - loads!
Bertie: Also the fact that we did all the artwork and everything ourselves. Being able to hold something physically that we've all done together, that was a really nice experience. We made the papier-mâché model balloon together and took the photograph, everything's done by the band.
As it's your debut EP, I imagine you spent more time in the studio than before. I wonder how recording an EP compares to recording a single. Did your process change?
Bowie: Recording with Theo Verney was different and new and we had more time in the studio to expand on themes and imagery. We didn't really have any of that before Theo brought it out for us. He was really good at painting pictures behind the music, like vast landscapes, Victorian streets or a Cowboy and Western. He didn’t know if it was true, but it made recording easier.
Did you find that the extra time gave you more than what you expected?
Bowie: It was great as we recorded drums and guitars at Salvation, which was incredible, and everything else at Farm Road which has this really cute, homely feel. It did feel like we just made them our little odd digs for four days.
Ollie: Turns out it would have been better for us to leave the recording after Salvation though, and just leave it with bass and drums, the rest off! Everyone was saying it when we recorded.
Marie: It's funny because there's an interlude on the EP, 'Marie’s Interlude', which is essentially bass and drums and a bit of Bowie's singing, and it’s doing really well!
Bertie: The EP of D&B-sides is where we get 5-stars from NME!
I love the lead single 'So Much for Mole Catching', and how it follows 'Marie’s Interlude'. It feels freeing and light, something a little different. Can you talk us through how those songs came together?
Marie: We didn't actually compose them together, 'Mole Catching' was written way after I wrote the interlude. The interlude was just a little thing I had on bass which we would play live just to fill in gaps or add something whilst people were switching instruments or tuning. When we wrote 'Mole Catching', we started using the interlude to go into it, and it worked kind of well together. So we decided to just put it down.
It’s gorgeous. And, I have to ask, is 'Mole Catching' really about a mole catcher?
Bowie: Me and Bertie stumbled upon a girl at Pride who was sitting on the floor and looked upset. I went over to see if she was ok and it turned out that she couldn't find her boyfriend. They weren't from Brighton and her phone had run out of charge so I brought her back up to our house, we found her boyfriend, and he came round for like four hours. We were chatting and he happened to say that his dad was Somerset Mole Catcher of the Year. I wrote it down quite drunk and thought "I'm going to make great song lyrics about that one day." We melded the idea to something Bertie had written about chance encounters.
Bertie: It's been interesting hearing what people have to say about our lyrics. Lots of people have been saying how the whole EP sort of sounds like a concept on small moments, stranger's stories, and chance encounters, which is completely accidental, but I love that people think that. We didn't think about it at the time.
Well, on first listen to 'Mole Catching', the lovely intimate back-and-forth between Bowie and Bertie made me think about catching or tracing moles on skin.
Bertie: Wow. That's interesting. I never thought about that but that's beautiful.
Bowie: That's so cute, I just got goosebumps.
Ollie: Hilariously, it's just some dude's dad! But we're taking it forward for future interviews.
Marie: I love that. In any form of art, once the person tells you what it is, it's not interesting anymore. If it's still a question, it's beautiful, because people can think about it and make sense of it by themselves.
Ollie: It's nice to find out what our EP is about.
The unknown is what makes music meaningful to listeners.
Bowie: Me and Bertie do encounter this a lot because we often have lyrics or poems that aren't for a certain piece of music, and then when we're writing we're kind of looking for what fits and feels right. When we do this, they're completely separate pieces of writing that don't link whatsoever, which allows us to make it work and make a meaning out of it.
Bertie: I think there's way too much pressure on lyricism. It's totally cool when it's two different people talking about two different things, it adds a whole other dimension.
Bowie: We've tried writing lyrics together so it melds and fits, but it doesn’t need to. It felt forced. Writing is a very personal thing.
In autumn you played some shows across Europe and celebrated the release of the EP on some UK dates - did you enjoy the tour?
Bertie: Getting to go on holiday with your best friends and get paid for playing? It was so good!
Ollie: Except I got badly bed bugged in Rotterdam. When I woke up, I took my shirt off and asked if it was bad and the room went silent. So I knew it was bad. Apart from that, it was the best time of my life. You're the first person in any interview to ask about touring or gigs but for us it's the main thing. Playing gigs, going to new places, meeting lots of people. Europe's the best out of all the places, you get treated amazingly.
Bertie: In the Netherlands, the venues we played were all former squats run by volunteers. They were so lovely and accommodating. At this place called Burgers, which means 'citizens' in Dutch, we were chatting to the lovely owner about his life. He used to live there back in the 70s, then he and friends had enough money to buy it and set it up. It’s beautiful. They do it so well.
Bowie: The EP release shows were really fun as well. I wasn't looking at those shows as a celebration until we were doing it. People were so kind, buying the vinyl and asking us to sign.
Finally, if you could flip the top of anyone's head and have a dig around inside - who would it be and why?
Ollie: Derren Brown. I'm big on Derren. I've used his techniques a couple of times. A lot of what he says is just about being assertive. The guy in the corner shop where I used to live was super mean about the £3 card limit. I went in and bought £3.50 worth of stuff, left, and realised I forgot toilet roll. I went back in to buy it but he insisted on the £3 limit. I said "there is no £3 limit", and he just put the card machine in front of me.
Bowie: Harry Giles, our drummer. Parrot videos, train schedules, and crazy drums. He's an intelligent dude, you’d see eclectic stuff.
Bertie: My unborn child. It might be unethical to do it to a random baby, but I want to know what the fuck is going on with babies. What are they thinking?
Marie: I'd like to flip my own head. There's so many things you don’t know inside your subconscious. I'd like to know what I'm really thinking.
Catch Flip Top Head at their first show of 2025 supporting Man/Woman/Chainsaw at Green Door Store's 14th birthday party. Saturday 18 January, FREE ENTRY.
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