Friday, October 23, 2020

Ones To Watch: Mountain Bloom

The music industry is super saturated I find. And I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, it’s just that sometimes the sheer volume of music available at my fingertips is a little overwhelming, which is why I’m so glad that Mountain Bloom reached out and shared their music with me because I think these guys are going places.

Mountain Bloom is a three piece pop band based in South East London; band members include Niall Coffey, Nick Ellis and Aaron Scott. After ten years of playing in various bands independently, the boys banded together in 2019 based on the desire to make music whenever and wherever they chose. Years of writing and tinkering away at music has given us three tunes and an upcoming debut album in early 2021, with sights set on one more single out this year. So I thought, hey, let’s all jump on this band wagon together, and I’ll give you my insights on the three songs already out in the music stratosphere.


Ball

‘Ball’ was the first song Mountain Bloom released and I think it’s really indicative of how they approach making music. It’s a combined effort of stream-of-consciousness writing, a good understanding of how to make a solid groove, and an excellent grasp of layering. Special shout-out to George Lindsay for adding a really interesting drum beat to the song and I’d say look out for the bridge in particular for some cool base and synth work.

Check out the lyric video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMYRhxYI3G8&feature=youtu.be

 

‘Locked In’

I love when you can tell people love what they do. In music I think it’s especially prevalent when you see musicians experiment. At the core of Mountain Bloom is an understanding of how to play and utilize their instruments. They’re songs are, for instance, mostly built around a base-riff. And they are not short in gifted friends who feature in their songs: Brad Vander Lugt of La Dispute played drums on this particular track. However they definitely don’t leave it at the core components, they use sampling and layers to create music that I’d almost say borders a soundscape.

‘Locked In’ is a single about doubting and questioning the bigger choices you’ve made in your life. In a time-period where we’re all left with our thoughts a little more, the reminder that everyone has their own path and moves at their own speed is a welcomed one. The message in this case, is wrapped up in a catchy song that I would call my favorite of the ones released so far.  

Check out their live session filmed before lock-down:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFsA3VRpDFQ

 

U-32

And their newest tune, U-32 gets special mention from the band itself as the song exemplifying what they are all about. Starting with a drum loop created on the Linn Drum app, they added the aforementioned base and samples, some of which included samples of vocals taken from other songs of theirs. This is something promised to be liberally done throughout the album, creating a ‘Where’s Wally’ effect (brownie points for anyone that eventually goes through and tries to find all the sampled vocals).

A song about putting compassion first, appreciating where one comes from and cherishing the mind-set you have developed, it’s a good message and, yet again, a catchy song.

 

Bottom line is, I’m a fan, I’m excited about the album. Keep an eye on their socials, I’m sure they’ll have updates for us soon enough. Until then, I’ll be ‘Locked In’ and having a ‘Ball’ with this music.

I’m not even remotely sorry for those puns. 


- Chloe Boehm

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