Since an early interview with Northern Noise back in 2014 Stockport exports Blossoms have gone from strength to strength. Their eponymous debut album sparked enormous interest amongst the indie rock community in the summer of 2016, it solidified their position in the music industry and showed that they were a force to be reckoned with after dabbling in an EP or two and already having created a fan base playing festivals and small venues, including Manchester’s own O2 Ritz and Stockport’s Plaza. After almost two years of touring the album and playing special events – namely a headline spot at last year’s Sounds of the City at Castlefield Bowl, the five-piece are back with their mighty follow-up album, Cool Like You.
To commemorate its release, the band played a short set at HMV Manchester along with a signing of the album. Blossoms are truly a humble band and simply normal boys, despite what can only be described as a public spat surrounding Tom Ogden’s rock ‘n’ roll approach to fame, which certainly started some hype around their return – although Tom was very happy to reference this during their in store performance in jest of himself. Blossoms have kept the album very, well, Blossoms starting with the album cover and aesthetic, sticking with the urban, industrial theme along with a huge production of lights that we saw in their debut album. What is different though is the car and the colours, which seem to nod towards an 80s vibe, which heavily translates to the sound of the album. We have already been treated to the first two songs on the album, “I Can’t Stand It” and “There’s A Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)”, which prove to indeed adopt an 80s synth tone but with a convenient Blossoms-esque twist.
The next nine songs follow suit, somehow bringing something new into each tune that’s exciting and encourages that feeling that great music evokes, a warmth and euphoria. In typical Blossoms style there are a few ballad-like melodies to dig into for some emotion and true pain – try “Love Talk” or “Stranger Still” for this – but don’t rule out the real bangers that are sure to thrill audiences this summer and during their inevitable full album tour (wink wink nudge nudge). The title “Unfaithful” doesn’t sound like something to bop to but once you’ve heard it, it’s one of those pesky tunes you can’t get off your mind but you love it, and the song from which the album takes its title “Cool Like You” is something to be praised, with its more disco-esque sound it’s sure to be a popular one with the fans.
Unusually it really is worth buying, or streaming, the deluxe version of the album in order to access the acoustic versions of all the new songs. Strangely the acoustic songs sound completely different to the originals, in the best way possible, bringing a raw quality to the originally upbeat numbers that offers a wholly unique appreciation of the songs you’ve heard on repeat since the album came out. “Cool Like You” is a fully deserved success for Blossoms, who will hopefully be back in our lives for a while after what feels like a long overdue return. The most exciting Northern band of the past few years certainly has an even more thrilling future ahead of them than what they’ve had already, which sets them up for a huge amount of future success.
Words by Emmeline Banks (@EmmTBanks)
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