BLOSSOMS FOOLISH LOVING SPACES REVIEW

 Back in January , Blossoms published their third album, Foolish Loving Spaces. The album comes months after the release of Your Girlfriend, the first single of the project . Blossoms told Radio X in a Track by track of the album , that they planned to do three different albums with the almost 25 songs they have written . The money it would have cost , made Blossoms choose to release only one album and , by this time, they had also the first single, Your Girlfriend. 

In the Track by track  Joe Donovan explains that the record , without being a concept album , could work as a love concept album. This reflects in Your Girlfriend . Tom wanted , as he explains in an interview to Radio X, to challenge himself as a songwriter and write about love in a different perspective. This time, Tom sings about a guy who is in love with a friend's girlfriend . This imaginary journey (cause it is not a real life experience) drives Tom to talk about the emotions that everyone could feel in this type of situations: the doubt about if she/he loves you or not while she/he is dating another boy ( Tom sings 'Is it possible she likes me too? / I'm not sure if I should read between those lines' ) and even the guilt , that drives to search the inocence in your behavior ( Then I could walk you home in the evening / And that's just being friendly).

The point of the track,  is telling a story , innovative for Blossoms' songs . The newness of this song is also the alt-rock spirit that surrounds it . It even gives western movies vibes . If you have seen Tom performing the song he moves as a cowboy with the microhone.

The record opens with If You Think This Is Real Life, the Talking Heads influence is appreciable . Despite the feeling of 'falling apart' with your lover or the 'inability to move on ' , the song inspires celebration , kind of joy .

The third track is The Keeper , the piano based song is completed with the Gospel choir that appears. The song is ,again, a celebration, it is the reflection of hope immensely . And as I have said before, the darkness dissappeared by the light that comes with a lover (who is the keeper) it also treated in this song ( 'I was lost but now, now I see/ You bring light in dark , dark undone'). The piece acts as a declaration of love til perpetuity ('until we're bones'). Similar is Falling for Someone , accompained by a gospel choir while describing infatuition . This time, the lover is not the keeper but she is sheltering him from the rain , the dark in other pieces. 

The band returns to pop, nearly disco in the energizing My Swimming Brain. 

The next track is Sunday Was A Friend of Mine, which was played by Elton John in his RocketHour (Apple Music). The song explores a lover persistence and inner conflicting feelings to not get over someone when the past relationship's memories come on Sundays. 

On Oh No (I Think I'm In Love) and on Romance, Eh? the band gives protagonism to another part in a love story, the infatuation. In the first one synths are back to bring a super pop atmosphere . It is , maybe, the closest to Cool Like You (could have been placed next to Love Talk) . The falsetto chorus makes it sounds more innocent and more femenine. That is why a Kylie Minogue remix would be praised by the fans and the band too. Romance, Eh? is the northern version of falling in love, full of tenderness.

As Tom says before playing My Vacant days from The Plaza Theatre, Stockport , it is about the feeling of reconnecting with reality after been touring . It might be  the most acoustic one, even in the studio version.

The album ends with Like Gravity, inspired by The Strokes. On the piece, the sun and the light mtaphors appear, which is like a sum-up of what love brings. The rock guitars, with the choirs and the electro sounds completely drives you to space. In the song lyrics , you can find the title (Foolish Loving Spaces) of the record.

Foolish Loving Spaces  is definitely a celebration and observance of love , each phase has a song (heartbreak, infatuition, doubt...). From alt-rock, to disco,pop . The album is a demonstration of Blossoms being unafraid of challenge themselves while not forgetting their identity.They sunk into love from the beginning as one of their common topics and this is Blossoms touching the iceberg and getting to its peak. Tom's vulnerability to his influences and to what's he listens to reflects on the album and has given to the record a more alt-rock sound .

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You can liste to Blossoms songs in my playlists Á.T.M , POP REVOLUTION  and SUNDAY MORNING.