Right, now here's a thing - and an annoying thing to boot. As hard as we may try to avoid the anonymous bands as we find it all a bit yawn ... yawn ... they still seem to keep on coming at us.
Blossomer have been one of the latest to assail our ears (pleasantly), but who, we are PR informed, are not giving anything out about themselves (boo!). So, on receiving that information, we decided we would pass for the time being. However, in this case as we did rather like the single we were presented with, we decided to once again adopt our 'Miss Marple' guise and see what we could sleuth out about the Blossomer boys.
And we know Blossomer will be reading this once we tweet it after publishing, since they seem to keep check on what's being said about them and we note they have already clocked our own tweets commenting on their secretiveness. Not that they will probably be at all buggered by what we have to say as this 'debut' [sic] from them, 'Foreign Nature', see below, has already received Radio 1 airplay and is a smooth and slinky enough little beast to give them a platform onto higher stages, regardless of our comments.
Pretty glorious, no? 'Foreign Nature', the official debut single, is released on February 23. Best described as orchestral electronica, even that description should be taken loosely, with shades of other influences also dotted here and there in their music: comparisons to Wild Beasts have already been mooted. The tracks they have put out so far all flow with a melodically atmospheric ambience; fairly fragile flourishes of synths, bass, and, of course, the vocals of powerful and soulful falsetto ilk that govern the duration of their presence. Blossomer, then, seem to tick all the right boxes.
They also appear to possess a good understanding of how to harness an evocative melody with the kind of rich vocals that ride high over the instrumentation, setting an indelible impression. And, it would seem that they are no one-trick - or, track, even - pony, which if you should happen to be one of those who caught onto the Sheffield trio more than a year ago when they put the rather haunting 'To The Sea' online - stream below - you will already be aware of.
Blossomer, we know, come as a threesome, with one of their parts being filled by video film-maker Alex 'Zan' Crabbe, ex-Hunt In Pairs, an electronic duo (with Jake Juba) that were active from late 2011 through 2012.
At some point either later that year, or early 2013, Crabbe then became heavily involved with the new Blossomer project. Check out their impressive oeuvre, 'Brother', which does not appear on Soundcloud but does feature here in this video below - directed by the aforementioned Crabbe. (Also take a look at his videos to the above two tracks, especially the stunning scenery - if not the naked male walker - of 'To The Sea'.)
[Update: This video has been made private, unfortunately]
Also uploaded to Soundcloud in more recent months - and another from the Dean Honer produced sessions at The Bowling Green Studio, which leads us to think these will appear shortly on an EP - is 'To Adore', below.
Of course, the question had to be raised, if Blossomer are indeed this good - and they give every indication in the affirmative - how is it that they have managed to stay under the radar for so long, despite even performing last year at key events like Live at Leeds and Tramlines? Whether this has all been a carefully orchestrated plan, or more a case that their resistance to publicity has worked against them, things seem to have been kickstarted just before last Christmas when they played an unannounced secret Sheffield show with Drenge.
Right now they are remaining in the shadows for a little longer until the release of 'Foreign Nature', and their emergence to play three strategic live shows. We would recommend you do everything possible to catch Blossomer at one of them if you can.
February
19. LONDON Sebright Arms
21. SHEFFIELD The Plug w/Man Without Country
25. MANCHESTER The Eagle Inn w/Gengahr
Linn Branson
Nice. Works as a great sedative.
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