Flossing Delves Into Surveillance Capitalism's Psychological Warfare With 'TRAP' Single

Six years ago while taking a break from music and stuck in a loop of over-work on Manhattan's Lower East Side, Heather Elle (former bassist of BODEGA and The Wants) was trying to stay a sponge for potential new musical material and overheard a stranger on the street say, "...and everyone gasped as the clothes fell onto the tarmac!" She couldn't stop wondering about the bigger story and loved how it involved the combination of technology, error, necessity, and luxury.

Around that same time, Elle kept hearing Fetty Wap's single "Trap Queen" everywhere she went and found it a strange coincidence that T.R.A.P. laws (Targeted Restrictions on Abortion Providers) were also in the news for using insidious non-medical reasons to shut down abortion clinics. This inspired her to reflect more on the double binds of both technology and gender - the social control, not-so-obvious coercion, and confusion. She wrote a skeleton of a song and put it away until 2020, coincidentally revisiting it when we were more plugged in and engaged with surveillance capitalism than ever before in human history. Today, Flossing, the new project from Heather Elle shares the single "TRAP" as well as a remix of the single from Sam Fogarino of Interpol.

"Humanity's fear of anti-mattering mixed with surveillance capitalism's psychological warfare is quite the dirty martini to sip on every day." - Flossing

The video for "TRAP" was directed by Brooklyn video artist Ali Yildiz of Analog Nation who, during the lockdown, began experimenting with circuit-bent AV gear, video synthesizers, CCTV and VHS cameras, and televisions. Elle once again plays with BDSM imagery and role play, seamlessly shuffling through exhibitionistic and voyeuristic characters. Whether she's adorned and bound in a tangle of cables, sharpening knives in a harness, or tied up with tailor tape, she represents both the technological sadist and masochist. And with Yildiz's CRT television tower as the main focal point of anxiety and trance - simultaneously live-streaming and replaying her pre-recorded memories - they comment on the eerie shifts in spectator culture, engagement with highly curated content, and the technocratic convergence of humans and data.

"TRAP" is accompanied by a remix from Sam Fogarino, drummer of fellow New Yorkers Interpol, who voraciously strips, rips, and pulls at the original arrangement with the relentless assistance of the Isla Instruments S2400 drum sampler. Flossing's self-produced, debut five-track EP, Queen of the Mall, will be released September 10 on Brace Yourself Records-mixed by Adam Sachs (Swans, Amen Dunes, Joan As Police Woman) and mastered by Joe Lambert (Animal Collective, Nicholas Jaar, Matthew Dear).

Watch the video here:

Photo Credit: Oriana Layendecker

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