A REVIEW OF 'At Most A Kiss - EP' BY BLOSSOMS - 24/02/2016



BLOSSOMS supporting The Courteeners in 2015.

Tom Ogden (vocalist and guitarist) Charlie Salt (bassist and BV's), Josh Dewhurst (lead guitarist), Joe Donovan (drummer) and Myles Kellock (keyboardist and BV's) are the lads from Stockport, Greater Manchester who are more commonly known as BLOSSOMS.

This five-piece band first came together in late 2013.

Since then they have exploded onto the music scene and have become one of the hottest live bands around.

They have played at festivals such as, SXSW, The Great Escape, T in the Park, Latitude and Reading & Leeds. On top of that, the band have also played two shows in Tokyo.

They came to my attention properly when I noticed that they were supporting alongside another band, Viola Beach, on the night I was going to see The Courteeners on their November / December tour.

I gave them a listen and quickly knew that I would like them both and this made me even more excited to see all three bands in the same night.

When I saw them on the 12th December, they came on after the amazing Viola Beach had graced the stage and they exceeded my expectations. It confirmed that for me I would definitely be a big fan of these two bands.

Rest in Peace to the boys of Viola Beach and their manager, Craig Tarry.

Blossoms new EP 'At Most A Kiss' greeted us yesterday morning.

Consisting of four tracks 'At Most A Kiss', 'Fourteen', 'Wretched Fate' and 'Misery'.

At first listen, I was a bit shocked. Although I know that Blossoms are great, I think I underestimated how great this EP would be.

This EP as a whole is vastly different to the work previously released by Blossoms. If you listen to all their discography in chronological order, you will notice straight away that this release is different.  

The first track, At Most A Kiss, is very similar to the other songs previously released. It is  song which you can imagine them playing live to a big crowd and everyone going singing every word back to them. For me, it makes me want to dance around and if it came on in a bar it would be a song that would have a lots of people on the dance floor. Lyrically, this song is extremely catchy and has been stuck in my head all day yesterday. I would say that right from the beginning without a doubt this is the fastest song of the EP. It even includes a catchy little guitar solo which is one that could be 'sang' along by someone who is listening to the track. This song is what I expected the entire release to be similar to, which I would have liked because I like this song very much.

'Fourteen' comes next and when this song started, it was obvious it was going to be a funky number and therefore it would be quite a hit with the fans of Blossoms due to it being similar to some of their previous releases. Although it is quite funky, as I previously said, these songs are all much slower which is shown in the beats and rhythms of each song and that is very much displayed within this song. In my opinion, this is the second slowest of the four, this is probably down to the themes of the song as it is all about just wanting to make things right with someone as you just want to be with them but the other person needs to get their head together which can be quite frustrating and can make a person feel quite down which is represented by the pace of the song. Throughout, there is that funkiness constantly and although the song lyrics may make you feel quite sad, it doesn't make you sad that you don't want to dance around to it. It works well.

Followed on 'Wretched Fate' is the second most upbeat song of the EP. All the way through there is a strong drumming rhythm and strong guitar playing which helps to build some momentum within the song. At some points the song 'drops' and the strong drumming and guitar playing helps to build that up and give it a bit more impact. The fact that this song has been put third means there is a gap in between the two slowest songs which has something more dancey in the middle to break it up and perhaps lighten the mood in between as people may think two slow songs together might be too much especially with the nature of the songs. It was a clever move by the boys, strategic or not. This is another song by them in which you can envision them up on stage performing with a crowd singing back as it does have a catchy rhythm and catchy lyrics.

The EP finishes with 'Misery'. When I first listened to this song, I felt surprised and may have even shed a tear. Although this song shares some alikeness to some other songs such as 'For Evelyn' it is still massively different. I was surprised because I don't think I was expecting this from Blossoms, at all. It is a bit odd to hear such a I think given the nature of the other songs which make up the EP which are all a little more up tempo, they made me feel happy and like I wanted to move. The second time I listened to 'Misery' it did make me feel happy, it is one of those weird songs, like one by The Cure or one by The Smiths. One which has quite a sad storyline behind it and the lyrics are quite sad but also make you feel oddly happy. I think the reason for it with this song is the amount of emotion you can surrounds this song due to the themes within it. There is a definition in Tom's voice which I did not expect to hear on this release. The instrumentals are all very soft and light and I think this a sound that Blossom's should definitely revisit in future releases.

I am now even more excited for the first album of Blossoms. 

I hope that next tour they do a gig closer to me so that I will be able to see them once more.



Tour Dates of 2016 (so far).



 Written by Sophie.