Blossom feels like the soundtrack to another world, its deft and delicate layers of violin, blended with voice and electronics, perhaps describing a place adjacent to our own, one that occasionally overlaps with our reality and can be accessed through ancient sites. A place that we only occasionally glimpse out of the corner of our eye.
There is undoubtedly an elegance to the music, but there is something clever in its creation, too. Right from the opener, “Bountiful, Blissful,” this blend of sonic beauty and musical brains works its magic. A pizzicato groove keeps things tethered enough to maintain the song’s form, and around this orbit graceful strings and electronic washes, and Chloe Dunn’s soft and seductive vocals.
And from these few sonic tools, she sculpts the most gorgeous set of songs. “An Angel” is as dreamlike and ethereal as the title suggests, the neo-classical and the forward-thinking dancing delicately together. Her take on “Amazing Grace” adds all the required emotion to this poignant song, and “Cherry Blossom” is cinematic and opaque, its unexpected sonic weight coming from the many gossamer textures that she layers one on the other.
More an experience than songs in the usual sense, something less to be listened to, more a sensation that you need to surrender to and allow to wash over you. Part dream pop accessibility, part classical grace, part folktronica, part fey, it is simply a stunning album.
