Listen to Blossoms’ country-tinged new song ‘Ode To NYC’

Blossoms have released ‘Ode To NYC’, the latest cut from their forthcoming album ‘Ribbon Around The Bomb’ that arrives in April.

The song is “a love letter to New York City”, Blossoms said in a statement. “It’s one of our favourites off the new album, I hope you love it as much as we do.”

‘Ode To NYC’, an upbeat, country-tinged song, follows the title track from the Stockport band’s fourth album as well as last year’s single ‘Care For’.

In the new song frontman Tom Ogden name-checks Big Apple landmarks including the Empire State Building and Times Square, the latter of which he describes as a “kaleidoscope of colour”.

‘Ribbon Around The Bomb’, the follow-up to 2020’s ‘Foolish Loving Spaces’, is released on April 29. You can pre-order and pre-save it here.

Speaking about the album’s title track, Ogden said: “While on tour in 2019 in Mexico, I visited Frida Kahlo’s house. Looking at her paintings on show, someone had described one of them as being like a ‘ribbon around a bomb’.

“I immediately thought that it was a great title for a song and album because of the imagery that it evoked in my mind. I thought about how lots of things in life could be described as being a ribbon around a bomb in the sense that as people we often dress things up which have a darkness lying beneath them.”

Ogden explained previously that the album is based around a central character called The Writer.  “The more songs I wrote, the more I realised that the writer referenced in the songs was in fact me,” he said.

“Having been so busy for the past eight years I and the band have never really had the chance to step back and reflect on what we’ve achieved. You’re so focused on the future; write the next album then tour. Your life is usually mapped out at least two years in advance.”

Blossoms were recently forced to postpone their European tour due to ongoing concerns around COVID-19.

The band are, however, playing a series of live shows in the UK this summer including headline appearances at Y Not? and Truck Festival as well as a run of support dates with The Killers.

Full details on Blossoms live dates in 2022 can be found here.