No longer courting Van Morrison yuks…
[Video][Website]
[6.25]
Jonathan Bogart: The video’s languorous intro, with the chamber string figures and decorously romantic saxophone giving way to a stuttering electro beat, is a fantastic musical joke, one which gets edited down to a half-measure in the song itself. Other musical jokes: the sudden hesitations suggesting climax, the strutty disco that’s not a million miles from the “bow-chicka-bow” of gracelessly implied sexiness, the sudden filigree of barrelhouse piano on the second verse that vanishes as soon as it’s heard. Even without the impressive carnality of the video (at least as compared to the South Korean norm), this would be a brilliant pop song; that it’s pushing at least one conversation forward in an interesting way is a bonus.
[8]
Iain Mew: “You can make me high/You can make me fly” is not a new or brilliantly stated sentiment, but rarely has it sounded so apt as with each chorus surge in “Bloom”. Gain is lifted aloft in pure delight on a bed of “bom bom bom”s, and when the drums cascade for an extra run up as well it seems like she might never have to come down. The cagey half-funk of the rest of the song makes the release stand out all the more.
[8]
Brad Shoup: You know, I think this would have worked better as a ballad. The chorus is halfway there, as are the strings when they’re not counterpoint to that changing-room disco guitar. Would’ve sent the director back to the storyboard, though.
[4]
Patrick St. Michel: Lyrically, this is mostly unsubtle, although not as much as the accompanying video which runs with both the blooming-flower imagery and a bedroom segment that just admits “this is about fucking, guys.” Musically, it’s a bit more complex — the chorus is the highlight, all high-note ecstasy that would warrant a high score all its own, but “Bloom” hides some nice details too. Check those digi “oh oh oh!”s in the back of the chorus, or that pause when it comes around for a second time. And the words even sneak in some interesting moments, like the “chemical blue ocean” bit and the portion where a voice wonders “did you fake it,” which subverts all the joy a little bit.
[8]
Alfred Soto: A not bad simulation of Fever-era Kylie: cybertronic multitracked vocals, rhythm guitar skitter, perk reasonably contained.
[6]
Frank Kogan: If you’ve been reading recently that, in comparison to America, Korea’s pop veers away from sex, this is true in the same way that it’s true that, in comparison to the Pacific, the Atlantic Ocean veers away from water. But Gain, along with her idol group Brown Eyed Girls, has taken note that Korea borders the Pacific and has been acting accordingly. “Bloom,” like recent tracks by f(x) and TaeTiSeo, rides a compacted funk groove and then flowers in the chorus, though is a bit paler than Gain’s previous couple of releases.
[6]
Will Adams: Everything was going so well. A slippery funk verse that glided towards a wonderful vocoder pre-chorus that Robyn would envy, and then… a cruise ship dancefloor chorus? Musical Non-Sequitur of 2012, as far as I’m concerned.
[5]
Ramzi Awn: There’s always a place for a perfectly nice piece of pop with a clean riff and laid-back vocal. It’s just not in my iTunes.
[5]