mvm.

01/05: From our London crash course of seeing Foals in Olympia Park to witnessing the London skyline from the Shard, we’re back with a bang… Once I’ve recovered from this weekend, I’ll be sure to write up a story or two about it all.

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Sharing their love with New York City to repairing unfounded passion, Blossoms return with winning ways with their early-60s-inspired sound of Ribbon Around The Bomb.

.//I remember seventeen
And I’m thinking how it’s not the same
Times passing before me
And we’re drinking more to numb the pain.\\ ~ Visions.

Nurtured with the greatest of care, Blossoms have always been instant favourites and soon-to-be staple classics in the world of indie peppery pop. Since their breakthrough debut in 2016, Blossoms have been charting out their own course, unafraid to enter familiar territory in the cruisin’ synth-80s and Brit-pop 90s along the way.

//Ribbon Around The Bomb: To Whom It May Be Concern. A far cry away from their third love letter of attachment, 2020’s Foolish Loving Spaces – which honed in on a poppy and youthful look to their quintet – Ribbon Around The Bomb is a more conventional alternative circling back to their breakthrough debut with an esteemed edge to their songwriting.

Preemptive singles of Care For, Ode to NYC and Ribbon Around The Bomb brought back a strong influence of 60s-psychedelics that we saw from the likes of Aphrodite’s Child, filtering in a new youthful buoyancy and modern drive that doesn’t drift too far away from trademark “Honey Sweet” Blossoms.

Where the synth has been quelled on some moments, a traditional landscape of acoustics fills the space. This results in a real down-to-Earth, coming-of-age quintessential sound for the Stockport collective.

Simply put, the album has no two ways about it. From a reflective theme of literature with acoustic-heavy The Sulking Poet and The Writer (“chapter two becomes of you, it’s easier to sit around feeling blue”) to a 7-minute reality-checker with Visions ending with a poetic Final Chapter, the album is truly ethereal in every sense of the word. Certainly worth an escape.\\

You can listen to the album below: