04 

Album: Blossoms

Artist: Blossoms

Release: August 5

Blossoms took something of a gamble with the amount of time they spent applying the finishing touches to their eponymous debut album. Having turned heads for two years with a slew of wildly received singles, keeping the debut back until the summer of 2016 could easily have ended up as another instance of a rising star fizzling out before it shone.

However, in the real world, the August release of Blossoms saw the Stockport lads shoot to dizzy heights unimaginable for them only a few months earlier. Charting straight at number 1 for a solid two weeks and cementing them as a solid crowd-puller on the festival circuit, the troupe registered a level of buzz unseen for a guitar band for some years, and single-handedly revived the sorely missed tale of a working-class indie success.

Musically, the LP boasted a neat collection of indie-disco hits familiar to many already, including an aptly conquering anthem in Charlemagne, a dancefloor-ready number in At Most A Kiss and the crystalline ‘80s inspired Getaway. It did, however, also introduce us to another side in a string of fresh material on the latter half of the record, with Honeysweet and Texia demonstrating a versatility and confidence unrivalled on the scene for a band still writing the early chapters of their story.

By Benedict Tetzlaff – Deas