The Front Bottoms, Everyone Blooms/Camouflage
Fueled By Ramen

The Front Bottoms: simplistic-poetic lyrics heartrendingly delivered, anthemic yet laid-back instrumentation, unparalleled aptitude for writing tunes that needle their way into your heart and curl up and sleep there, exuding a firefly glow and flaring up every now and then to remind you how much you love the New Jersey icons.

TFB are much-beloved by casual fans and die-hard ones alike, with a penchant for memorable, evocative lyrical gems nestled amongst upbeat instrumentation. Latest offering Everyone Blooms is the epitome of all of the above – the track merges acoustic guitar and strings with huge fuzzy riffs and lilting basslines, topped off by Brian Sella’s unmistakeably earnest vocals. The verses are poignantly propelled into the massive singalong chorus, whether it’s by the rippling melody or Sella’s passionate talk-singing later on in the track.

Everyone Blooms leans towards the more emotional end of TFB’s range, and earlier release Camouflage is even more of a banger. It’s still got the key ingredients of delightfully blended acoustic and electric vibes, impassioned spoken-word moments, and instantly infectious lyrical nuggets laden with easily accessible and oh-so-apt metaphors, and it’s a recipe that works perfectly. There’s something magical about the way TFB mix up all the emotional turmoil they sing about and turn it out in such an unfailingly warm way – TFB tracks feel like a comforting arm round your shoulders and a shot of adrenaline at the same time.

The follow up to 2017’s Going Grey is due later this year, and Camouflage and Everyone Blooms guarantee it’s set to meet the high bar TBF have set for themselves so far – and then some. We don’t know when to expect it quite yet, but we definitely know what to expect, and it’s good.

Everyone Blooms and Camouflage are out now.