About this item

Hull/Leeds based five-piece bdrmm release their much anticipated debut Bedroom on July 3, via Sonic Cathedral. The 10-track album was recorded late last year at The Nave studio in Leeds by Alex Greaves (Working Mens Club, Bo Ningen) and mastered in Brooklyn by Heba Kadry (Slowdive, Beach House). It’s a hugely accomplished debut and a real step up both sonically and lyrically from their early singles, which were rounded up on last year’s If Not, When? EP. Musically, there are nods to The Cure’s Disintegration, Deerhunter and DIIV, while the band reference RIDE and Radiohead. There are also echoes of krautrock and post-punk, from The Chameleons to Protomartyr, plus the proto shoegaze of the Pale Saints’ The Comforts Of Madness, not least in the cross fading of some tracks, meaning the album is an almost seamless listen. As a result, Bedroom becomes an unexpected and unintentional concept album, running through the different stages of a break-up set against the backdrop of the ups and downs of your early twenties. “The subject matter spans mental health, alcohol abuse, unplanned pregnancy, drugs… basically every cliché topic that you could think of,” reveals frontman Ryan Smith. “But that doesn’t mean they ever stop being relevant. It’s a fucker growing up, but I’m lucky enough to have been able to project my feelings in the form of this band, surrounded by four of the best people I’ve ever met.”

And that band name, in case it needs explaining, is pronounced the same way as the album title. “I never thought I’d get to the stage where I would have to explain it so much,” says Ryan. “We have been pronounced as Boredom, Bdum and my old boss thought we were a ska band called Bad Riddim. We’re all sarcastic cunts, so Bedroom spelt correctly seemed like the perfect title.” He’s right. The perfect title for the perfect debut album.

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: The hugely anticipated debut album from the Hull based five-piece led by Ryan Smith. Released on the ever reliable Sonic Cathedral, ‘Bedroom’ takes its cues from the early 90s shoegazing scene but magnifies it in the huge expanses of their widescreen sound. The effortlessly gorgeous instrumental “Momo” sets the scene as the guitars ripple around a taut rhythm section before the hypnotic opener cross fades into the glimmering introspection of “Push / Pull” with its Chameleons-esque chiming guitar chugs and soft-focus vocals of Smith.
Throughout the album the shimmering soundscape pulses along with hypnotic chiming guitars, doomy bass sounds, and dream-pop vocals, all perfectly illustrated on mid-album highlights such as “Gush” and “Happy”. The colossal “If…” dominates Side 2 with huge peaks of crunching fuzz riffs and euphoric vocals, before the album drifts out with the lilting mellowness of “Is That What You Wanted To Hear?” and album closer “Forget The Credits”.
Who knows where their next album will take them but with ‘Bedroom’ they’ve created a modern day shoegaze classic.

TRACK LISTING

1. Momo
2. Push/Pull
3. A Reason To Celebrate
4. Gush
5. Happy
6. (The Silence)
7. (Un)happy
8. If....
9. Is That What You Wanted To Hear?
10. Forget The Credits