{"id":27617,"date":"2021-06-07T13:24:14","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T17:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=27617"},"modified":"2021-06-07T13:33:55","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T17:33:55","slug":"interview-gloss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2021\/06\/07\/interview-gloss\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Gloss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0By Jackson Tarricone<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible to put a label on Gloss\u2019 sound, and that\u2019s a good thing. Affectionately known to fans as their favorite indie-pop girl group from Philly, Gloss draws on a myriad of styles from Latin Jazz to R&B. Their eclectic style is reflected by their origins as a group at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

Singer\/keyboard player Sophia and drummer Mollie met in the Fall of 2018 in a Brazillian Percussion Ensemble. Even then, Mollie and Sophia wanted to start an all-female band, but they were unable to: \u201cthere was no female bassist at the school so it was kind of just a dream of ours for a little bit,\u201d Mollie recalled. However, the following year, when Harlee began attending UArts, this dream soon became a reality. \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The band name came about when they were getting bubble tea and trying to find a name for their group. While putting on lip gloss, Harlee asked \u201cWhy don\u2019t we just call it gloss?\u201d to which the others replied, \u201cwait, that\u2019s good\u201d (you can find this information and more Gloss lore on the band\u2019s TikTok, @gloss.band). Just over a year later, Gloss released their debut EP, Entwined<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Just like the band name, the EP name also has a great origin story, as Sophia explained:\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cIn my tinder bio, I link our music and a ton of guys will message me after they’ve listened to our songs and say \u2018I really like how you say entwined in that one song\u2019.\u201d Conveniently, this word ties right in with the main theme of the song, connection. Taking that into consideration along with the Tinder Boys\u2019 compliments, Entwined <\/em>seemed to be a perfect fit.<\/p>\n

Although you\u2019d never know it by hearing the organic, almost live-sounding Entwined<\/em>, Gloss made this EP thousands of miles apart from each other, recording remotely from their bedrooms in Arizona, New Jersey, and New York. Luckily for drummer Mollie, because school ensembles were recording remotely as well, she had already decided to invest in a full 8-mic recording setup for her kit prior to tracking this EP. Meanwhile, Harlee, Sophia, and guitarist Corinne all tracked their parts using audio interfaces.<\/p>\n

The band was also aided by Larry, Sophia\u2019s mom\u2019s boyfriend, who does IT for a recording studio in Phoenix called The Salt Mine. Larry got the band mixing time in the studio whenever he could, which the band is grateful to him for. So, as Sophia said, \u201cif you need IT, call Larry.\u201d The EP was then mastered by Cole Brunson.<\/p>\n

As amazing as this was, this meant that Gloss could only secure studio time sporadically, leaving the band with a lot to do in a short amount of time: \u201cWhenever we could get time was when we had to set aside everything to do it,\u201d bassist Harlee noted. The EP\u2019s lead single, \u201cMariposa,\u201d for example, was started and completed entirely in just one week over the summer. Aside from the intro, which Sophia wrote herself, \u201cThird Person\u201d was written and completed entirely in one night\u2014albeit a very long one\u2014when the band was over at Mollie\u2019s house over winter break. \u201cMe and Mollie stayed up until about 4 a.m. trying to figure out what the fuck to do because it was a mess,\u201d Sophia recalled. Continuing, she said that they did this because they had to: \u201cIf we don\u2019t do this now we\u2019re not going to have another song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, Gloss wrote and recorded the EP closer \u201cWalk On\u201d in one night. Even under pressure, the Philly trio still found a way to be creative throughout the recording process. For example, the Latin beat that comes in towards the end of the song started off as just an accident, but this prompted Harlee to say \u201cwait, that\u2019s cool,\u201d so they kept it. Fast forward to now and it\u2019s Sophia\u2019s favorite part of the EP.<\/p>\n

Another challenge of remote recording was the mixing process. Because they couldn\u2019t physically be in the studio, each band member had to be painstakingly specific in their mix notes, but, as terrible as it was, Mollie said it was for the best: \u201cWe had to see what we wanted and what we didn\u2019t want just so it made the process go by smoother.\u201d Still, Mollie doesn\u2019t plan on making a habit of recording remotely: \u201cI hope I never have to do that any time soon,\u201d she remarked.<\/p>\n

Now that Entwined <\/em>is out, Gloss is proud of their hard work and the end product. Harlee, prefacing it by saying \u201cthis is deep,\u201d expressed what releasing Entwined<\/em> means to her: \u201cI finally have something that I can create and be happy with it and be proud of it and be like \u2018I like how I did this, I wish I could have done this.\u201d Sophia added that she completely stands behind the EP: \u201cI’m not embarrassed to show people. I\u2019m like \u2018listen to this, I think it’s good\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite existing almost entirely online as a band, Gloss has cultivated an impressive following on social media and streaming services alike, boasting more than two thousand followers on Tiktok and almost 10,000 streams on their song \u201cMariposa.\u201d They did this by being true to themselves, which is exactly the advice Mollie would give to creatives right now: \u201cExpress yourself; don\u2019t be afraid of what anyone thinks; do what you love.\u201d Additionally, Sophia advises artists to fight the fear: \u201cDon’t be afraid to get weird with it.\u201d Finally, Harlee says to trust your instincts: \u201cDo what feels right to you,\u201d she continued. \u201cAs cliche as that all is, it\u2019s the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking beyond Entwined<\/em>, Gloss has big plans for the future. Before the pandemic, they planned to join New York band Strawberry Launch on their summer tour, which has since been indefinitely postponed. However, they look forward to working together in the future whenever it\u2019s possible. In the meantime, Gloss is working on new music as well as music videos for this EP alongside Destiny Flores, who designed the cover art for the EP and the singles. In the more immediate future, Gloss is playing their first show as a band on June 11th at London Dungeon in Glassboro, New Jersey. More information and updates can be found on their Instagram, @gloss.band.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0By Jackson Tarricone It\u2019s impossible to put a label on Gloss\u2019 sound, and that\u2019s a good thing. Affectionately known to fans as their favorite indie-pop girl group from Philly, Gloss draws on a myriad of styles from Latin Jazz to R&B. Their eclectic style is reflected by their origins as a group at the University […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19284,"featured_media":27620,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,1523],"tags":[1874,29,1873],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27617"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27617"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27625,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27617\/revisions\/27625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}