Pip Blom

The Amsterdam outfit Pip Blom originated when its namesake launched a solo endeavor devoted to close-up bedroom pop modeled on the lo-fi indie rock of the 1990s. Expanding into a four-piece sharpened and broadened the ensemble’s attack while retaining its homemade character. The first two LPs—Boat in 2019 and Welcome Break in 2021—revealed a thorough grasp of the melodic punch associated with 1990s alternative rock, whereas Bobbie in 2023 shifted toward synthesizer-driven pop.

During her early teenage years Pip Blom entered a songwriting competition and composed a set of pieces on a child’s starter guitar. Although unsuccessful in the contest, she discovered a lasting commitment to music that prompted dedicated songwriting and guitar practice. She began capturing spare, inward-facing indie rock in solitary D.I.Y. fashion and issued several singles throughout 2016. The majority appeared only in digital form; “Hours”/“Truth” surfaced on vinyl through Grunt Grunt a Go Go Records, while Working on It appeared via Paradiso Vinyl Club. Following that active period, during which interest in the project mounted, Blom chose to exit the bedroom setting, assemble a band, and begin live performances. She recruited her brother Tender for backing vocals and guitar, along with friends Casper van der Lans on bass and Gini Cameron on drums; the quartet commenced playing shows and developing material. Their initial full-band recording, “I Think I’m in Love,” emerged in early 2017, followed later that year by “Babies Are a Lie” and “School.”

Pip Blom’s emphatic indie-rock approach, which referenced 1990s sounds, drew the notice of the Breeders, who invited the group to open their 2018 European dates. Toward the end of that year the quartet released its debut EP, the five-track Paycheck. The band soon joined Heavenly Records and entered the studio with producer Dave McCracken, previously associated with Florence + the Machine and Depeche Mode. Together they pursued a leaner, more direct aesthetic centered on Blom’s sincere vocals, angular melodies, and the quartet’s skillful dynamic shifts. Boat was mixed inside a shipping container along the Thames by Dillip Harris and issued by Heavenly in May 2019.

After an extensive touring cycle Blom returned to her parents’ home and started composing songs drawn from her time on the road. She accumulated twenty numbers, sixteen of which the full band demoed before returning to London for tracking. Following a two-week quarantine the musicians worked at Big Jelly Studios in Ramsgate with engineer Al Harle. Adhering to the same fundamental approach as before, they produced a more polished and pop-oriented second album. Mixed conventionally on this occasion by Caesar Edmunds, Welcome Break appeared in late 2021 on Heavenly Records. Reconsidering their musical course, Blom set guitars aside and concentrated almost entirely on computers and synthesizers while preparing songs for the third album. The group tracked material in concentrated sessions and forwarded the results to McCracken for refinement. The completed project, Bobbie, released in 2023, proved their most overtly pop-oriented effort, incorporating Auto-Tuned vocals, disco-inflected grooves, and a guest turn from Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos while largely omitting the abrasive indie-rock textures of earlier work.