Blossoms

English quintet Blossoms made a rapid splash across the U.K. music landscape during the 2010s, climbing from neighborhood gigs to major festival bills in a remarkably short span. Their long-awaited first album arrived in 2016 and immediately claimed the top spot on the charts while captivating listeners through its infectious, synth-driven fusion of Brit-pop and indie rock, showcased on tracks such as the chart success “Charlemagne.” The follow-up, 2018’s Cool Like You, leaned further into new wave textures yet kept the group firmly positioned on British charts and live circuits. By decade’s end they were filling arenas, among them a triumphant hometown stadium date. Entering the 2020s, the band delivered their third album, the romance-centered Foolish Loving Spaces, then returned two years later with Ribbon Around the Bomb.

School friends Tom Ogden on vocals and guitar and Joe Donovan on drums formed the group in Stockport before Charlie Salt on bass and vocals, Josh Dewhurst on guitar, and Myles Kellock on keyboards and vocals completed the lineup. Although often labeled psych-pop—a tag the members resisted—they carved a distinctive niche between the Doors and Arctic Monkeys, pairing classic songcraft with atmospheric organ tones and buoyant youthful drive. Ogden’s vocal style bridged Richard Ashcroft of the Verve and Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys, guiding the music from shadowy, groove-laden warmth to brisk Brit-pop. Early single “You Pulled a Gun on Me” captured this balance, which the band refined across later releases “Blow” and “Cut Me and I’ll Bleed.”

Two EPs appeared in 2015, Blown Rose and Charlemagne, followed in February 2016 by At Most a Kiss, whose four tracks introduced stronger synth lines and forward momentum. Plans for a debut LP were announced the next month, and the self-titled Blossoms emerged that summer to top both the U.K. and Scottish charts; an expanded edition with ten bonus tracks surfaced several months afterward.

In early 2018 the singles “I Can’t Stand It” and “There’s a Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls)” previewed the more pop-oriented sophomore set Cool Like You, which landed in April. Continued demand saw the group sell out nationwide dates. Their third album, Foolish Loving Spaces, reached listeners in January 2020; centered on love and attachment, it drew sonic cues from Talking Heads and U2 and secured a second U.K. number-one position. During the COVID-19 lockdown the band issued the remote-recording project In Isolation, featuring reimagined originals alongside covers of songs by Babybird, Elvis Costello, and the Beatles, later paired with the concert recording Live from the Plaza Theatre, Stockport for physical release. Ribbon Around the Bomb, their fourth studio album, arrived in 2022 and revisited early-’60s influences with echoes of Procol Harum. The following year Blossoms joined ’80s chart-topper Rick Astley for a series of live performances interpreting the catalog of legendary English rock outfit the Smiths, highlighted by a Glastonbury appearance that summer. In 2024 they began rolling out their fifth album, Gary—named for a fiberglass gorilla statue taken from a Scottish garden center—crafted with production and writing contributions from Josh Lloyd-Watson of Jungle, James Skelly of the Coral, and CMAT; the record once again topped the U.K. album charts.