By: Izzie Dyer
Thomas Cohen | facebook |
Back in 2013, the underground music scene saw the untimely demise of fledgling post-punks S.C.U.M. Despite only issuing one record, the East London four-piece proved themselves to be an exemplary instance of how this modern day and age, with its MTV and YouTube born superstars and vast array of other corporations determined to obliterate any sort of integrity held within artists, need not have to coincide with the disintegration of depth, passion and experimentation by current bands.
Turning this tangent round to reveal its relevance to right now, the former S.C.U.M. frontman Thomas Cohen has announced the release of his first solo album Bloom Forever via Stolen Reccordings. Naturally, this sparked a great interest after the excellence of his previous group; however, surprisingly, the record is pretty stark in its genre divergence compared to S.C.U.M. debut Again Into Eyes. Whereas his past work was gritty and psychedelic, Cohen is almost blues-y in this LP. The parallels between the different stages in his career start to come in when the detailed exploration of thought and emotion emanating from the sound of the tracks starts to resonate through your very being as a consequence of the truly loving and committed level of craft implicated within the pieces. If one thing is for certain, the past three years were not a time in which any of Cohen’s rather extraordinarily captivating talent deteriorated.
Bloom Forever is an LP rich in variety, which is apparent right from the off with moody ‘Honeymoon’; the track slips with casual ease between the reverberating, pensive verses and the chirpy, crashing chorus (and an odd little bit of brass even manages to wriggle its way in there). Cohen is set to release the track in question on 12” this month as his debut solo offering, also accompanied by the record’s brooding, twinkling title track.
Pinpointing a particular highlight amongst the relatively lengthy yet ever-hypnotic tracks is a tricky one, with the album being one of those that reveals a little extra slice of delight with each further time you listen to it. Blasé, upbeat ‘Hazy Shades’ is an interesting one as it disrupts the prior, more intense atmosphere of the record, and maintains an underlying essence of a somewhat jazz preference from the bouncing bass line and keys.
‘Country Home’ follows the aforementioned track and just so happens to be another significant contributor to the enigmatic, emotive aura of the record. Echoing and gentle, the beginning of the track is sharply interrupted by some staccato instrumentation, and then conveys back to a delicately poetic, understated nature. Chanting and driven ‘Ain’t Gonna Be No Rain’ comes sixth, a darkly beautiful creation, and is a definitive stylistic diversion within the record. The track oozes confidence and power from the sharp choruses, and in a typically-Cohen style retracts back into more modest verses between their occurrences.
Effortless in charm, captivation and filled with what can only be described as exuberant poignancy, Bloom Forever is an excellent continuation of Cohen’s musical legacy. The album is composed of nine tracks that are consistent in both their artistic genius and ominous fascination, and furthermore comply stunningly with each other, even in spite of their considerable differentiation. Cohen’s debut has gone above and beyond to prove that he is more than capable of carrying on by himself, and expectedly great things ought to be in store for his career.
