The date was Thursday, July 24, 2025. Supreme Joy were slated to play at Denver’s legendary Hi-Dive to celebrate the release of their record 410,757,864,530 Dead Carps, supported by Team Nonexistent and Sun Swept (also Denver artists). Upon closer inspection, I noticed that a band called Flutter would be co-headlining, also celebrating a new release. “Oh yeah, that’s Josh’s band; he sings and plays guitar,” a friend told me, and it all started to come together.
For those less familiar with Denver’s music scene, the “Josh” in question is one Josh Colpitts, guitarist extraordinaire, also of the aforementioned Supreme Joy (also featuring Flutter drummer Stephen Riffert) and the earthy psychedelic rock unit Honey Blazer, as well as plenty of others I’m surely missing here. I’ve only ever known Josh in a supporting role, so I was thrilled to see him perform with his relatively recent band on the eve of their new release. They tore through their new material with the abandon of a punk group—classier than the Replacements, but only slightly—threw in a cover of the Byrds’ “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better” for good measure, and promptly called it a set (I shouted for “September Gurls,” but it wasn’t to be). I was immediately taken by their energy, but it was the hooks that truly stuck with me.
Since then, I’ve been listening to this EP, titled When You Love Somebody, quite regularly. As far as debut statements are concerned, this is about as solid as they come. Every song is an instant earworm, from the high-voltage jangle of “Standing on a Corner” to the fleshed-out, quasi-epic (by pop standards, ostensibly) closer “Wizwit.” The lyrics mine the usual power-pop tropes without ever sounding tired or derivative—there’s a fair amount of self-effacing humor and wry wit here to ensure that the delivery remains fresh. In “5 Star Review,” they even manage to poke fun at the establishment dudes whose anger at the world is rooted in their secret desire to have been in a rock and roll band. It’s such classic-sounding and delightfully straightforward music that you’d think these songs have been around for decades already, as if they’d been plucked from the air.
This is certainly a record for fans of Big Star–informed guitar pop, with chiming guitars and effortless melodies for days. If When You Love Somebody is any indication of Flutter’s trajectory, then it seems like they’re in for a very bright future indeed.
P.S. Flutter, if you’re reading this and you happen to need a Crosby (in vocal placement alone, of course) for your next Byrds cover, you know who to call.
Written by Jacob Simons
