THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “L.A. group Flamango Bay’s second EP Mascara was inspired by the riot grrl movement, Mitski’s Bury Me At Makeout Creek and bands like X-Ray Spex — along with performers who are (or were) expansive with gender expression (Freddie Mercury, Prince).
Speaking on the title track,singer Ikaika Gunderson says “In sixth grade I started both crying less and wearing makeup more. A part of me knew that there was a correlation. I started wearing mascara so that I would stop rubbing my sensitive watery eyes. I found that this was a funny metaphor for the fact that I used hyper-femininity to hide my trans-masc identity; both from myself and others. Mascara acted as a wall between me and my sensitive nature, blocking a stereotypically feminine part of me with make-up, another stereotypically feminine thing.
“Though I wrote this song while I was out as non-binary, I had not let go of this deeply ingrained idea that pretty meant worth. Fucking up your mascara is a kind of revolutionary act when society expects women/feminine presenting people to be “pretty” all the time. For me, it was one of the first parts of accepting my gender. I was performing femininity so well for so long while simultaneously getting more and more disgusted with myself. Removing what society expected of me and seeing this distorted fucked up image in the mirror was both terrifying and exhilarating. Seeing myself with raccoon eyes and black tears feels better than seeing myself with “nice” makeup.”
