Smashing Times -Bloom

 

Bloom deserves a lot more fanfare than we have observed about it. Thirteen tracks of jangling, twee folk rock, vibrant psychedelic pop and freakbeat reminding us variously of Felt, The Jasmine Minks, Sneaky Feelings and Television Personalities, and sounding to us a lot like a well-curated playlist of hits. But despite the wide influences, and perhaps partially because of them, the album sounds fresh and original. Of course, credit for that largely goes to the writing and execution by The Smashing Times.

The five-piece resides in Baltimore, Maryland, although their musical hearts seem well traveled in place to the UK, New Zealand and California, and in time to the '60s, '80s and '90s. But our musical hearts travel the same spots in the time-space continuum, which may explain why an album new to our ears sounds like it has been in our brains forever. One listen was all it took to move Bloom to our list of favorite albums this year, and repeated listens find it insinuating up the ranks. We highly recommend that your treat your ears.

Bloom is out now via Spanish label Meritorio Records.

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Bandcamp for Bloom

Meritorio Records