Description
Label Review.
2019 debut album. Dutch indie. Also available on CD.
Our Overview.
Dutch musician Pip Blom is releasing her eagerly anticipated debut album ‘Boat’ - following a very exciting and busy year for her, she released her fast paced and energetic EP ‘Paycheck’ and was supporting the likes of Garbage, Franz Ferdinand and The Breeders - all which grew her fan base and deservedly so. Pip presents a head-on attitude which characterises everything she does and it’s an absolute joy to behold - whether that’s witnessing her band’s powerfully impressive live show or listening to her honest, heart-onsleeve approach to writing songs on record. ‘Boat’ is emblematic of that - an open book of Pip Blom, delivered via her undeniable knack for writing a hook-laden, 3-4 minute song; planting it in your head and making it stay there looping days after first hearing it.
There’s the kinetic combination of guitars from herself and brother Tender Blom, the effortlessly captivating vocal range which can be authoritative and intent like in the driving album opener ‘Daddy Issues’, or soothing and warm as heard in melodic middle track ‘Bedhead’. Then there are the choruses that seem to stop songs in their tracks and lift them into a different stratosphere.
The album’s earworm quality is something that has been connecting across the waters from her home country of the Netherlands, aside from the aforementioned 6 Music playlists, landing an impressive amount of spins across US college radio and a spot on the coveted Triple J playlist in Australia. Listening through, it’s not hard to understand why. The album is wrapped up in a certain energy that, while evident the band put everything into recording it, would indicate they had a blast doing so - its infectious and, most importantly, wholeheartedly believable.
Dave McCracken bottled up that energy while overseeing the recording at Big Jelly studios in Ramsgate, with the album then mixed by Dillip Harris in a shipping container on the banks of the Thames in East London. The result is ten songs that, alluding to the album’s title, ferry you through Pip’s headspace via expertly crafted songs gelled together through their unassuming depth.
LP format includes digital download code.