Blossoms announce new album ‘Gary’
Stockport five-piece Blossoms have unveiled details of their upcoming fifth album, Gary, set for release on September 20th.
The upcoming record has previously been previewed by lead single ‘What Can I Say After I’m Sorry?’, which starred Everton FC manager Sean Dyche in the video. To celebrate the announcement of the forthcoming album, Blossoms have shared the title track, which sees Dyche reprise his role as a low-level crime kingpin, and also features Rick Astley, who they famously covered The Smiths alongside at Glastonbury last year.
The new video has been directed by singer Tom Ogden and his brother Ewan Ogden. According to the frontman, ‘Gary’ is “based on a true story I heard on the radio last year – Gary the 8-foot fibreglass Gorilla was stolen from Reynard Garden in Carluke, Scotland. We’ve recreated the story on screen with Rick Astley playing Andrew Scott, the owner of the garden centre, and the band stealing Gary.”
Ogden also described the track “as the centrepiece of the album”, which is why they chose it as the title for the LP, noting, “After toying with different titles, we kept going back to Gary. In the end, it could only be Gary.“
Notably, the name Gary was once one of the most popular in Britain, but in recent years, it has been dwindling, and there are fears that it may one day become close to extinct.
For Ogden, the intention with Gary was to return to their roots, stating, “The heart of this record is about the five of us recording live in a room together for the first time in years. We wanted to capture the energy of what it’s like when five friends decide to start a band and make music together.”
Additionally, while the ethos mentioned above helped spur the band on creatively, they also worked in a more collaborative way than ever before. While The Coral frontman James Skelly was on production duties as per, Jungle’s Josh Lloyd-Watson also produced two tracks, and Irish singer-songwriter CMAT co-wrote two songs that appear on Gary.
On working with CMAT, Ogden said: “We hired an AirBnB on the seafront in Anglesey and locked ourselves away for the writing session with Ciara and it was one of the most inspiring few days we’ve had as a band. During the writing process, we were listening to a lot of Bowie, Blondie, and Hall & Oates.”
Ogden also named Blondie as an inspiration for ‘I Like Your Look’ along with the Joan Baez effort ‘Toe Rag’.
Before Gary is released to the world, Blossoms have a busy summer of festivals ahead, including a show at Wythenshawe Park in Greater Manchester on August 25th, their biggest headline performance to date.
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