Blossoms
– THE BUNGALOW CLUB, STOCKPORT –
The Bungalow Club in Stockport is the stuff music video dreams are made of. You know the sort, sticky floors, tiny stage flooded with huge illuminated Christmas decoration style moons and a Stockport local drinking too many pints and dancing Bez style at the back.
It seems a custom built backdrop for Stockport’s Blossoms, who are fresh from touring with The Charlatans and The Courteeners and are currently on a quest for a psych revival. The crowd is mostly a gaggle of family and friends who proudly mouth every song. However, it’s not the familiar hometown audience that gives them a cocky swagger, it’s the proven success of the formula of their music. A winning combination of trippy keyboards and striking, surprisingly poppy guitar over endearingly vulnerable lyrics.
It’s the 60’s inspired polo-necks and slightly out-there sound that gives them their edge. They look like they’ve done a whirlwind trip to Ryan Vintage but in a kooky, none try-hard way. In the context of a Stockport social club, they’re home in both senses of the word. It has a feeling of an underground 90’s gig and their sound is almost too big for the room, creating a tense, bubbling excitement that could only be felt in a venue with such charmingly boarded up windows and upturned tables.
The band crams onto the tiny stage and by the second song are already onto their second single, ‘Cut Me And I’ll Bleed’ with it’s echoey ethereal guitar and incredible synths. When frontman Tom Ogden isn’t holding a guitar, he’s smashing a tambourine and effortlessly oozing sartorial cool. ‘You Pulled A Gun On Me’ is magnified when performed live, essentially bringing The Doors into 2015. ‘My Favourite Room’ is a pared down, believable harmonic beauty and the keyboard on ‘Blown Rose’ could be straight from an undiscovered New Order track.
They rattle through the small roster of tracks they’ve acquired in the 2 years they’ve been together in just under an hour, finishing with the obvious single and undoubtedly their ‘hit,’ ‘Blow.’ It descends into a mass of clashing sounds before the lights are up and it’s back to a decidedly dank social club, after the most exciting thing to happen in Stockport since Joy Division recorded at Strawberry Studios.
Blossoms Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud
