2016 has been a lukewarm year for music for me personally. After the lacklustre second albums from the likes of the 1975 and Catfish and the Bottlemen, I hit some form of stalemate in my pursuit of something fresh to listen to. And then along came Blossoms, with their eponymous debut album and the inevitable Twitter hype that the Manchester originated five piece have effortlessly stirred up.
What I like about Blossoms is that although their sound-sunshine infused psych pop-falls into the dubious “indie” category, there’s nothing stale or overtly reiterative about their music. There is nothing more satisfying than listening to an album that automatically creates good vibes and summer inflected first track “Charlemagne” hits that nail promptly on the head. The band themselves have cited all manner of influences from the predictable (Arctic Monkeys), to the more explorative (ABBA, the GTA Vice City soundtrack…) That’s an eclectic mixture of eras, from 70’s, to 80’s, to Noughties with an undeniable hint of the 60’s also evident in tracks such as “Cut Me and I’ll Bleed”. In print that sounds like a train wreck, yet each track manages to perfect blending just the right hint of these influences whilst still managing to create that euphoric pop sound that flows most recurringly throughout the album.
What grabbed me about this album is the amount of stand out, anthem esque tracks; all too often albums comprise of one or two 10/10 songs, the kind you know will be incredible live, and then a scattering of simply average tracks that you find yourself habitually skipping past. This is the type of album that I find myself sitting and listening straight through, no skips required because each track is that consistently decent. Although it could be argued that from listening to this album it would be difficult to specify exactly what Blossoms trademark sound and style specifically is, it’s also refreshing for a new bands debut to be more explorative as opposed to creating an established sound to make their mark.
The band have an upcoming autumn tour that dates are selling out for by the day and are tipped to reach number one in the album charts at the end of this week. All in all, Blossoms are definitely ones to keep your eyes and ears on….
boundforsound 