How Blossoms haven’t had a bigger career, particularly in their native Britain, is quite a mystery. Like fellow twenty-teens band The Vaccines, this lot has made loads of great records while barely making a dent in the charts.
They have had the support of BBC Radio, especially Radio One, Radio Two, and the online AAA station, Radio Six Music. In 2021, they had some heat on them after they joined forces with Rick Astley off of “Never Gonna Give You Up” and did a small tour, that consisted of Smiths covers. They reference this in their song “Mothers,” one of the tracks on their latest album, Gary. The combined outfit also played Glastonbury in 2023 to rave reviews.
Challenging Environment
Looking at the charts in the US and UK, though, it’s obvious that popular music tastes are trending away from bands like Blossoms, and that’s a shame. Not to be that reviewer, but the charts in both countries, as well as Canada, Australia, and Europe, don’t have a lot of variety these days.
Undeterred, Blossoms, who have a respectable 1.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify, released their fifth album this past fall. In spring 2024, ahead of the album, they released the stand-alone single “To Do List” featuring Findlay before releasing some of the songs that wound up on Gary.
The Singles
“To Do List” is a synth-pop-inspired tune, which was subsequently remixed by techno-pop giant Vince Clarke (Erasure, Yaz, Depeche Mode). Indeed, it’s very Erasure-like with its mix of guitar and keys. It also is solidly what the Brits call Northern Soul in the vein of Deacon Blue.
“Big Star” opens Gary and picks up where “To Do List” left off. After its crunchy guitar opening, it floats along on a Gary Numan-esque synth, which reaches the surface in the bridge. It’s a strong opener.
Just about any track from Gary could have been a single. That being said, they made some interesting selections as far as what they tried to land in the singles charts. “What Can I Say After I’m Sorry” and “I Like Your Look” are solid tracks, but as singles, they’re a little out of Blossoms’ signature sound. Maybe that was the point. The latter, for example, has a funky bass, strong 80s keyboard hits, and semi-rapped verses.
“Cinnamon,” on the other hand, which was not released as a single, is the quintessential Blossom tune, even more so than the very fine title track, also a banger.
Another Shot at the Charts
Shortly after Gary was released, the band issued an EP of covers recorded during the album sessions. Two of the tracks were released as singles. The first one, a slightly slowed-down version of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” made it into BBC Radio 2’s rotation briefly but did not chart.
The more contemporary “So Hot You’re Going to Hurt Me,” a tune by Caroline Polachek, suffered the same fate. It’s a shame that British radio ignored Gary and only got excited about Blossoms when they rolled out cover songs. Not that these aren’t fun, it’s just that Blossoms is not a mere bar band but is perhaps one of the most overlooked bands going today.
PF Wilson has been writing about music, TV, radio, and movies for over 20 years. He has also written about sports, business, and politics with his work appearing in Cincinnati CityBeat, The Houston Press, Cleveland Scene, Cincinnati Magazine, Cincy Magazine, Atomic Ranch, and many more. Check out his podcast PF’s Tape Recorder available from Podbean or in iTunes.