Sonically encapsulating and bringing you wave after wave of nostalgia, Brooklyn’s Superbloom offer their debut album Pollen as their must-hear entry into the alt-rock scene in true grunge revival form. “While this might be our first record as Superbloom, it’s far from our first musical rodeo,” drummer Matteo tells BLUNT. “We’re really lucky to be friends as well as bandmates.”
Channelling an unintentional ’90s influenced sound, the band came together through a natural progression of having a common desire to play music. “Dave and Tim were lifelong friends and started fleshing out some songs together. They were cutting demos at Studio G in Greenpoint with our talented friend Jack Counce and asked him if he knew any bass players. I had just moved to NYC, and he kindly recommended me for the spot,” explains bassist Brian. “Matteo had put up a Craigslist ad looking to join a band, was the most talented drummer who tried out, and coincidentally, the only one who showed up on time and wasn’t an absolute pea brain. The rest is history.”
Having found each other through different avenues, the outfit emphatically state the role that camaraderie plays in their relationship. “Generally, we all hang out outside of band duties whenever we get the chance. We’re definitely a bit of a gang when we’re out together,” laughs Matteo.
“We have a running joke that we’re starring in the alternative rock version of the Netflix show Last Chance U. Far less athletic, but just as determined. And if we don’t end up with that D1 scholarship, give us a couple of years and we’ll have a country-pop project to sell you.”
The band’s debut album Pollen captures a ’90s grunge essence that they say was a result of “individual tastes” rather than a conscious decision. “Having grown up on a lot of ’90s music and constantly flipping through CD booklets, I think that might be coming through in the music and visuals,” Tim points out. Matteo clarifies that they “definitely grew up listening to a lot of a certain type of ’90s sound, but also to hardcore, post-hardcore, pop punk, straight up pop music, more Deftones-y type stuff. So what you end up hearing is the result of us mixing all of these elements,”
Sticking well and truly to the nostalgic brief, the album begs to be listened to from beginning to end with headphones as you lay down and stare at the ceiling. Superbloom agree, to an extent: “I personally love that and have felt so deeply connected to so many bands doing the exact same thing. I’m big on listening to albums all the way through and for Pollen, we felt pretty strongly about releasing an album, not just a bunch of singles and EPs. I hope people enjoy listening to this from front-to-back and it feels like a page-turner, each song bringing you somewhere new,” says Tim.
“In an ideal universe, listening to an album front-to-back is a nice immersive experience, but most people don’t have the time for that,” Brian adds. “We intentionally made it a full front-to-back listening experience, but the tracks each hold up individually in their own right – so however you want to enjoy it is cool with us.”
Being in the midst of a global pandemic, it’s an expectation that each and every one of us will, in some way, shape, or form, experience an inconvenience in our daily lives. For Superbloom, however, the challenge of writing and releasing their debut record throughout this time was met with determination to make their mark in the music scene, regardless of international health crises.
“We’re building the plane while it’s in the air, which sort of frees us from expectations and the traditional release-promo-tour cycle. We didn’t have any hang-ups about releasing it [now] rather than holding it,” Tim admits.
“The quarantine was a challenge and opportunity,” asserts vocalist Dave. “We’re from NYC so when the city was shut down we were seriously shut down and I personally kept busy by writing songs. At one point we were writing songs from three different states by sending tracks back and forth. So it was pretty nuts but it was probably the most prepared we’ve ever been to hit the studio because we had all the parts written out.”
“We’re hoping that with the vaccine rollout, we’re able to get on the road as soon as possible,” Brian warns. “A lot of artists have released records over the last year that ended up building a crazy amount of demand once shows started happening.
“We’re all looking forward to connecting with people in person again.”
