TÜLIPS
Doom & Bloom
Reviewed by: Ziggy Merritt
Some albums have the ability to make you believe summer is still with us at heart even two months after its societally accepted expiration date. The debut album Doom & Bloom by shoegazing punks, TÜLIPS, argues on the behalf of the bygone heatwaves of early September. But to call them shoegazing punks is a bit of an injustice on my part. Doom & Bloom is free of traditional classification by its variance in sound and focus. At times it has the sensibilities of a 90s riot grrl record, in others a more goth-punk bent that would be more at home on an early Siouxsie & the Banshees single.
This has much to do with the tastes and inspiration that frontwomen Angie Bloom and Taleen Kali have brought together in this debut. Tracks like “Pretty Girls” are focused pop-punk ballads, similar in structure to fellow contemporaries, Dum Dum Girl’s sunnier singles. Meanwhile the shoegazing muse is fully realized in one of the earlier cuts on the album, “Dream Lover.” These tracks eschew a willingness for experimentation, a trait that’s necessary to discover a singular sound.
However that same trait does not save the album as a whole. While the eagerness and vitality of such a release is downright infectious, Doom & Bloom as a collective has a hard time meshing together. The inspirations fueling the creation of this album largely appear to be focused on the tracks by themselves. As a result the album feels less cohesive with the tracks unable to find room for effective transitions. “Evil Eye” which fulfills some of the more goth, post-punk ambitions feels awkward next to the sunnier dispositions of its neighbor, the aforementioned “Pretty Girls.” Instead it feels more apt to view these tracks as solid cuts best placed outside the context and length of an LP. The real magic of Doom & Bloom instead lies in its ability to undercut the maudlin air of dead leaves and dead trees. With vigorous currents of guitars and bass, this album wills us to believe that while the summer months are long behind us they’re also not too far away.
Rating: Listenable
