As True Blossom prepare the release of their upcoming third album, Blossom Girl Ultra, they are being explicit about their identity and intentions. At least on their press release, anyway. Over the past several years, the Atlanta five-piece has been a lynchpin of the city’s underground pop scene. In that time, they’ve amassed a DIY indie credibility, which, though naturally earned, may not exactly square with what the band is attempting to do musically. So rather than play coy, True Blossom are quick to declare they are “a guitar band that plays Pop Music. Not indie-pop, but the real thing” (emphasis mine). It’s a interesting distinction to make, one that certainly colored my experience of listening to the album’s lead single.
To be sure, “Don’t Deny It” is the sort of radiant, propulsive pop-funk song that’s easy to glide into. It feels welcoming and luxuriant. Every detail, from the playful beats to Bonnie Hardie’s peppy synth and Nadav Flax’s hip-thrusting bassline, glows with luminous warmth. And yet, there is something about it that holds the listener at a slight distance. Some of that can be pinned to Sophie Cox’s vocals, which land somewhere between a kind of sweet sensuality and a darker, more inscrutable desire. If you can shake the desire to close your eyes and sway out on the dancefloor, you’ll feel a murky tension lurking at the song’s center.
Filmed partially at local house show staple Casa Nova, the video takes on a simple premise: to capture a day in the life of the Atlanta DIY pop scene. Featuring members of fellow locals Lowtown, Breathers, Karaoke, and Pallas, the clip traces their activity as they prepare for the evening, meet up at various houses and apartments to hang out, and then make their way to the basement show. It’s a ritual we’ve all experienced ad infinitum, and yet somehow never quite loses its allure. The video was directed by guitarist Chandler Kelley and Robert Lambert and shot by Lambert and Logan Gunzenhauser.
Watch/listen to “Don’t Deny it” above.
Recorded by Damon Moon at Standard Electric Recording Co., Blossom Girl Ultra is out June 21 via local cassette label Rope Bridge Records. Check out the album’s cover art and tracklist below.
Blossom Girl Ultra Tracklist
01. Don’t Deny It
02. All For Us
03. U Got It Worse
04. It’s Okay to Be Nervous
05. Ugly Old World
06. EZ Luvr
07. You Can’t Stop the Beat
08. Tell Me Why
09. Strangers
True Blossom will celebrate the release of Blossom Girl Ultra on June 21 at the EARL alongside Dinner Time and Meghan Dowlen. Doors open at 8 p.m. Admission is $15. 21+ to enter.
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