Artist Interview: Fullscreen
Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
One of the finest up-and-coming rock bands out of Philadelphia, Fullscreen creates rock music with a cinematic sensibility. Composed of vocalist Kirby Vitek, keyboardist Eric Schueler, bassist Harper McGrath, and drummer Jon Furson, the band released their second album Highway Hypnosis in June. I spoke with Vitek, Schueler, and McGrath over video call, where they informed me that I spoke to them from an iPhone perched on a guitar amplifier.
The members of Fullscreen like to compare their albums to film genres. Labyrinthia, their first full-length release, is analogous to a low-budget horror movie (the band loves The Texas Chain Saw Massacre). By contrast, Highway Hypnosis is a neon-drenched romantic drama. An homage to working a nocturnal service job, the album is a bright indie-rock confection infused with psychedelic pop textures, like a lysergic cupcake.
“This is pretty much an album about the restaurant industry, for me, and the sort of amazing and also really horrible stuff that happens there,” said Vitek. “It was kind of romanticizing, elevating, the restaurant nighttime working lifestyle, where you kind of just become a little nocturnal.”
The vision for Highway Hypnosis included a heavy dose of Wong Kar-wai, in particular the films Fallen Angels and In the Mood for Love, and the 1989 action film Road House. The fish-eye distortion was a key part of the band’s visual vernacular.
“I feel like that has a very slapstick kind of feel to it. I was thinking about it in terms of that, these different characters moving past each other in the span of the night, and it being sort of a blur,” said Vitek. “But then also being very energetic and quick-moving.”
The song “Aperitif” is a perfect capsule for the album: a glossy electronic-inflected dance track, it’s spangled with disco guitars and multilayered synths. The music video, directed by Joan Summers, is a slick and cinematic romp, alternating between desaturated and bursting with color (and features genuine Campari).
“Joan absolutely stepped in and left her body and became Steven Spielberg,” said Vitek.
“She was able to divine what the shots should be to make the video,” said Schueler.
The rest of the record holds a melange of different moods and sounds. “Barrie,” which begins as a spare piano hymn, crescendos to a cross between Tame Impala and Cocteau Twins. “Lost to the Sauce” and “Party Revival” are fast-moving and danceable, bringing a dynamic and slightly frenetic energy to the record. This is balanced by one of the most unexpected tracks on the record, “A Face for the Radio,” an instrumental that functions as a slow glide into “Aperitif.”
“It was very dramatic, almost like Meatloaf or something,” Vitek says.“It’s the same melody as the chorus of ‘Aperitif,’ so it’s sort of like an overture.”
“An aperitif to ‘Aperitif,’” Harper adds.
“We love a dramatic intro,” says Schueler. “‘Aperitif’ is a tight pop song, so it’s nice to put the dramatic intro on its own track.”
Another highlight is “Avoidance Disorder,” a slower, more meditative song with a glowing psych-rock resonance.
“I’m really happy with the synth part at the end of ‘Avoidance Disorder,’” says Schueler. “It’s like an arpeggio, big pad…and kind of builds the energy up and stuff.”
“I was really stoked about that part too,” said Vitek. “I remember being like, ‘I feel like the synth thing should go here,’ but I’m not as good at dealing with synths. You brought back exactly the thing that I wanted to happen, which was really cool.”
“There’s this one very specific part in ‘Avoidance Disorder’ where there’s this local reverb swell that opens in the middle,” Vitek continues. “I remember doing that and being like ‘oh, that makes it feel like a finished song,’ even though it is such a minor detail.”
The electronic and psychedelic finishes made the songs feel a little weirder, which was a key part of the band’s vision.
“I think we were a little self-conscious about the album being too…funky or something,” says Vitek.
“Too Maroon 5,” McGrath jumps in.
“We were just like…not Maroon 5. This needs one more thing so it doesn’t sound like Maroon 5,” says Vitek. “They were the opposite of the North Star. No disrespect.”
“I love Songs About Jane as much as the next person,” Schueler says quickly.
“Maroon 5, if you want to work together, we will completely clear our schedules,” jokes McGrath.
The band has been a project between Vitek, Schueler, and McGrath since 2017, but reached its current iteration with the addition of Jon Furson as drummer.
“I was playing drums and singing, which is sort of a fun gimmick,” Vitek says, “but I don’t know if it really suited the type of energy we were trying to bring.”
Adding Jon Furson as a drummer rounded out the band to its current quartet form; the bandmates noted that even though he wasn’t part of the writing of Highway Hypnosis, he was integral to the recording.
“Jon was there for the entirety of the process for each one of the songs, he’s had that input,” Vitek said. “It’s been a huge help.”
“We are beginning the process of writing brand new stuff with Jon,” says Schueler, “not for the first time, because we’ve been doing it for the last two years, but now we’re kind of starting to shape an album with music that we’ve written with him.”
Despite its dynamism, Highway Hypnosis is in fact the culmination of songs that were first composed during lockdown.
“Part of the relief of getting it out is that it’s a lot of music that we’ve written back in the covid era,” says Schueler.
“When you work on stuff electronically, you’re just listening to it over and over again, and you kind of get tunnel vision, or highway hypnosis, if you will,” said Vitek. “Which I think was part of the idea of naming it that, was just kind of spinning your tires, in terms of, just getting too in your routine and your rut, just getting–”
“Lost to the sauce,” Schueler joked.
“Lost to the sauce!” Vitek agrees. “Listening to your own song one thousand times makes your perspective on it pretty weird.”
The pandemic “made it more difficult to make it be truly collaborative,” said Vitek. “But it makes it more refreshing that we can do that now.”
Looking towards the future, the band is going to be working through new songs live on an upcoming tour with the iconic electro-pop artist–and fellow Philadelphian–Twin Princess.
“If you see us live in the next span of months, you’ll probably see us working through stuff that will eventually be recorded and become an album,” said McGrath. “I feel like it’s cool to see bands work through their music live, and see it come together. We’re working on new stuff that I think is exciting.”
For now, though, the band is celebrating Highway Hypnosis. McGrath summed up the album as “trying to take things that sound really mundane, but kind of… draw out the mystical, sublime parts of it.”
“Medical bills,” joked Vitek.
“A lot of it is about routine, and feeling sedentary, but…things are changing,” said McGrath. “It pays to notice things around you.”
Highway Hypnosis is out now.
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Elizabeth Piasecki Phelan | @onefellswoop
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