Blossoms – Blossoms

Stockport quintet Blossoms have been making all the right moves ahead of their debut release, cropping up on a number of 'bands to watch' lists whilst amassing a strong enough legion of followers to warrant a BBC Radio One stage slot at T in the Park this year (a big step up from their performance on the T Break stage in 2015).

Yet here comes the old adage: beware the hype. Whilst the indie pop outfit's self-titled debut does a commendable job of showing off the group's strengths – power riffs, woozy keyboard lines, stick-in-your-head melodies and an overall affiliation with Oasis, The Stone Roses and other psych-slanted rock bands of the 90s – it also exposes Blossom's soft underbelly.

Take Getaway, a breezy, atmospheric indie rock lament that positions itself as 'album highlight' material but recedes from the memory almost immediately, devoid of any lasting hook or memorable lyric. Bland ballads Honey Sweet and Onto Her Bed further underscore the fact that Blossom's talents actually lie in crafting vampy, upbeat pop-rock hybrids, like the moody, chugging, 80s-inspired track At Most A Kiss.

At 12 songs in total, the album is also indulgently long for a debut. The record seems eager to incorporate the band's entire output to date – all the way back to 2014 single Blow – but such inclusions seem redundant given the group's obvious stylistic progression since then. Blossom's debut record isn't short on marketable material, but its impact could certainly have been enhanced by a more ruthless pruning.