Glosser - DOWNER (Deluxe) (2024)

Their first album DOWNER was released in January 2023, however they have decided to release a deluxe version exactly one year later containing four new tracks – two remixes, a reimagined song, and a cover – that they are hoping will give it a second life and allow them to continue performing around the area.

The band explains that they have spent many shows opening for touring bands that traveled through D.C. “We made music and then venues started to open again,” Sheehan says. Rather than having the “typical grungy” D.C. band experience, they uniquely went straight to club shows.

They make a great team, as they write each of their songs together. Fanning is the voice of GLOSSER, while Sheehan’s role falls more on the instrument production side (keys, guitar, drums, etc.). “Basically, I wanted to start a band,” Fanning says. “I had never done any type of music before, but I was just a huge music fan and had a secret dream that I wanted to sing … I interviewed a bunch of people and posted online about it, and basically Corbin found me because I was in this Facebook page for D.C. musicians, but at the time I was offering to do band posters and stuff.” After their first meeting, they immediately went back to Sheehan’s house and started writing that night. “Ever since then, we’ve been in a band.”

The two discussed what they wanted their music to sound like, and bonded over artists such as Beach House, Weyes Blood, and Mazzy Star. “We were huge Lana Del Rey fans and just huge regular pop music fans,” Sheehan says, “So then when we went to make a record, I guess we were listening to so much different stuff from pop Taylor Swift all the way down to the original Beach House and other indie pop bands like that.” He describes themselves as music fans first, and musicians second.

They decided they needed a name that would evoke imagery that matches their sound and style. Fanning’s original name for the band was Clover, but decided that would maybe get lost within the internet. “I really wanted it to be one word and I liked the idea of something like Clover’s vibe … One day I was just sitting there and was like, ‘Wait, what about GLOSSER?’”

Their first release as GLOSSER was their 2021 self-titled EP, led by the single “Lost in Your Life”. Fanning describes that project as “very classic dream pop.” They have now pivoted to calling themselves indie pop “because at least with this last record, we went more straightforward with pop-ness,” she says, mixing the world of those dream pop band with other influences like Taylor Swift, Lorde, MGMT, and one of their favorites right now, Phantogram. “We just kind of pull from everywhere.”

To describe the album DOWNER, Fanning says, “We’re sad, but we’re still partying.” DOWNER chronicles the mix of emotions that coincide with coming of age and young adulthood, which Fanning realized she wanted to highlight after writing a few songs. “Once I got a hold of that idea, I was able to write the rest of the songs and things were just coming to me.” That time during late high school and college when you are 18/19/20 years old is a rollercoaster; you are having fun with your friends, yet crying all the time and depressed by not necessarily knowing what the next step in life is, she explains, which their debut album tries to capture. “I don’t mess with the lyric side of it at all,” Sheehan says. “I think Riley’s a really good storyteller so I will let her do that. For me, I always latch on – We wanted the record to be dance-y/poppy, but still sad.”