Jul 2020
Lost in your mind – Bdrmm radiates angst, hardship, and innocence with their debut record Bedroom.
Bdrmm is a five-piece shoegaze/dreampop outlet from Hull, UK. Originally starting out as a solo endeavor for frontman Ryan Smith, the band quickly filled and started jamming out tunes. Having released a series of singles dating back to 2018, we were all just waiting for a full-length and now enter, Bedroom.
Opening a record with an instrumental is always a hit or miss for some people. However, “Momo” is a hit. It’s repetitive guitar overlapped by atmospheric synth brings high energy right from the get-go. The song perfectly segue into the next, titled “Push / Pull”. The track definitely continues down the same path of atmospheric shoegaze, drawing early comparison to DIIV‘s “Mire (Grant’s song)” – edgy by nature and providing a longing sense of angst.
“A Reason to Celebrate” breaks through with a very alt-rock ’90’s vibe that immediately caught my attention. The uplifting chord progression drops out to only build back up in the chorus. The optimistic title came rather unintended: ‘Me and Jon just wanted the album to be done so we had a reason to go and have a couple of drinks,’ said Smith in an interview with Amazing Radio. Returning back to their more dreampop roots “Gush” opens with a memorable time signature drum beat. Despite how good the guitar tones were, the lyrics really stood out:
bdrmm ’s current single ‘A Reason To Celebrate’ has been remixed by Ride man Andy Bell and the new version is out now on all digital platforms.
In his GLOK guise, the guitarist has turned the almost anthemic shoegaze of the original (which Brooklyn Vegan described as “widescreen stuff, sonically somewhere between Ride’s Nowhere and Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream”) into some previously unexplored middle ground between underrated 4AD outfit Ultra Vivid Scene and the late, great Andrew Weatherall.
“bdrmm are ace!” says Andy of the band. “To know them is to love them. It was a pleasure to remix their brilliant new single.”
“It’s so surreal,” remarks bdrmm drummer Luke Irvin. “In my first ever band we used to cover ‘Vapour Trail’ by Ride and now Mr Ride has remixed one of our tracks! It’s mind-blowing!”
“It fucking bangs,” concurs his bandmate, singer/guitarist Ryan Smith. “Hats off to the chief.”
Listen to bdrmm ‘A Reason To Celebrate’ (GLOK Remix) – BELOW:
The original version of ‘A Reason To Celebrate’ is taken from the band’s debut album, Bedroom, which is released on July 3 and was recorded by Alex Greaves (Working Men’s Club, Bo Ningen) and mastered by Heba Kadry (Slowdive, Beach House).
Aug 2020
