SG88: atmos bloom - Everythingness [LP]
Everythingness is the sophomore album by London-based indie duo atmos bloom. Inspired by bands like DIIV, Ulrika Spacek, and Deerhunter, Curtis Paterson and Tilda Gratton’s thoughtful foundation - made up of shoegaze-psych and jangly bedroom/dream pop - beautifully supports the themes explored in the follow-up to 2022’s Flora, reflecting “the endless cycle of feeling up and down and the sudden changes we all experience” in life, whether that be fear, hope loneliness, self-realization, and everything in between. Specifically, when it came to Everythingness, Paterson and Gratton wrestled with a pair of deep questions: “Do we enjoy the light whilst we’re in it, cut loose in the dark and embrace the unpredictability? Or do we live in fear of the uncertainty that’s around the corner, unable to embrace either the light or dark for fear of a sudden shift?”
Across the album’s ten tracks, Gratton and Paterson seek answers to these inquiries with the steadiness that comes from intentional introspection, exploring the themes of adolescence and adulthood, self-love, transitions, finding balance, and the cycles of life through dreamy, yet intentional compositions. In “Closer,” a track about finding peace rather than panic at the fact that “past versions of yourself no longer remain,” Gratton’s vocals are lithe yet wonderfully earnest, floating above pastel-tinged, sun-bleached, beautifully worn-in and familiar melodies. “It’s Enough” is soft and patient, a stunning contrast to the conveyed feelings of doubt and self-consciousness; “Everything” discusses the strain of young adulthood and the pressure to figure it all out immediately; “Feel” is on the grungier side, reflecting the realization that there are forces out of your control. While Everythingness’s atmospheric closing track “It It’s Place” gestures to the amorphous feeling of not being able to break free from these forces, what lies underneath is the suggestion that the answers to the questions we fear asking most are not as elusive as we believe, but, rather, that they have been inside us all along.
SG88: atmos bloom - Everythingness [LP]