Dread and Hope Drip on BMSR’s Panic Blooms

Heavenly melodies glitch and purr as the chords and melodies take their time to unfurl. Tom Fec has forgone the aggressive beats that were on my favorite BMSR album, 2013’s “Cobra Juicy” but what we get instead is a trippier album that brings the songwriting skill of TOBACCO front and center. Some songs get to moments where Fec’s signature vocoded vocal and the drums are the only instrumentation used and the result is compelling cinematic music.

I listened to a bunch of older BMSR albums before getting to listen to the new album, and while listening to the simple guitar plucking on an older track, I thought to myself, “I hope they do some more stuff like this.” I wasn’t disappointed. Tracks “One More Ear” , “To the Beat of a Creeper” and “New Breeze” make guitar melodies central to their structure. “New Breeze” specifically uses off-kilter synths that sound like the inside of someone’s brain with a head cold experiencing zero gravity. “June July 28” is some classic BMSR sounds with a wailing tremolo synth dueting with an acoustic guitar.

This “Liquid Goth” classification that BMSR put on the front of their plastic packaging is an apt description because so many of the sounds are sad and gooey. The BPM’s do drop, but the emotion picks up. The texture and tone of the synths get real weepy, in a good way. “Bottomless Face” is the best example of the world’s saddest synth arrangement. While listening its easy to imagine someone viewing the sun come up over the horizon and let one tear streak down their cheek. “Permanent Hole” is the point where we start picking up some optimistic steam, even though the lyrics say “This is not your day”, the tone shifts and by the time the melodic bells ring out the depression starts to pass.

“Panic Blooms” marches along with the upbeat and sparkly “We Might Come Back”. BMSR then uses some excellent synth melodies that wouldn’t sound out of place in a stadium rock situation on “Harmlessly”. Which, hopefully they’ll get to test out on their upcoming tour with Nine Inch Nails. The mood dips again with their lead single “Backwash” which distills a syrupy sad tone into a trippy pop tune. The hopeful yet yearning track that follows, “Sunset Curses” is probably one of the most personal songs BMSR have ever written. Synths sob and “The sun goes down and the bad shit wins” is the line that sticks with me. The album closer “Mr. No One” is a synth-pop song to pick yourself up and dust yourself off to. Fec uses his vocoded vocal to almost respond to critics before the end of the album by saying “I don’t care if you like me”. Given his experimental track record and the cult-like (As in Rad Cult) following of his fans, that seems to be a winning strategy.