Bloom

"Bloom" CDR

Self-released

Genres: lo-fi, dream pop, indie pop

Jan 12 - 18 2004

Bloom is back!  Just a short while after reviewing his obscure, barely labeled cassette, we're now onto his two-track CDR.  And just like before, it's a breath of fresh air.

The two songs on this CD are short, dreamy acoustic pop numbers both eerie and beautiful.  Bloom's talent as a songwriter is very obvious; he crafts spacey, lo-fi tunes that are remarkably unique.  Often his vocals become a bit draggy (when he's moaning instead of singing,) but this only seems to become a problem in the latter moments of his songs (which may be a bit too long for their own good.)

The better track on this disc is "Unbound," a dark, lush pop number that sounds like a combination of early Smog and Cat Power material.  Though this song is rough around the edges, it's still very melodically pleasant and quite atmospheric, in a spacey, mysterious sense.

I look forward to the next Bloom release; it surely won't be long before he gets signed to an indie pop label somewhere.

85%

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 2 tracks, released 2003]