Pip Blom - Boat (Deluxe) (2020)

Something special happened to Pip Blom at the tail end of 2018. It was a busy twelve months that saw the release of her frenetic EP 'Paycheck', two A-Listed singles at 6 Music and support slots to the likes of The Breeders, Franz Ferdinand and Garbage. Capping that off, though, moments before stepping onstage at a sold out Lexington - the London stop-off on her debut UK headline tour - the band put pen to paper and signed to Heavenly Recordings. Now, Pip announces her first release for the label - her debut album 'Boat'. 'Boat' is 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 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 Margate, with the album then mixed by Dillip Harris in a shipping container on the banks of the Thames in East London. Its 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.