Blossoms have ushered in their new era with the jaunty single ‘Joke About Divorce’ – check out the video below.
The Stockport indie heroes have not released any new music since the expanded edition of their fifth album ‘Gary’ in 2024 – their fourth UK Number One album in total – but ‘Joke About Divorce’ is the first taste of new music, with more to follow later this year.
The track, produced by Shawn Lee and released via ODD SK Recordings and Distiller Music, is a spritely, energetic indie pop bop, with frontman Joe Ogden singing: “I guess this argument’s not the place for a joke about divorce / My intention’s are just a playful thing to make you laugh of course”.
Check out the theatrical, pink-washed video, directed and edited by Ogden, here:
“During every argument, no matter how big or small, there’s always that moment where humour could completely disarm you both and diffuse the whole thing,” said Ogden of the track’s inspiration.
“On this occasion, I thought joking about divorce would do exactly that… I just got the timing completely wrong. Instead, it made things worse, and that moment ended up immortalised in a three-and-a-half-minute pop song.”
The band recetly completed a European headline tour, and they have been announced for a couple of festival appearances this summer: at Neighbourhood Weekender in Warrington in May and Tramlines in Sheffield in July.
Blossoms spoke to NME in September 2024 around the release of ‘Gary’, with Ogden saying the band had “really taken the live show to another level” during that era.
“It does feel like we’ve really stepped it up again,” he explained. “That’s important because I don’t want to drift off into the abyss like so many other bands do. This album is helping us stand out from the crowd a little bit.”
The band were also among the acts benefitting from a £1.6million pot of international touring funding.
Called the Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS), the touring funding programme was developed and administered by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), and gave away a total of £1.6million to support 58 acts that were looking to expand their global audiences but needed extra financial aid. Funding from previous rounds of the scheme was given to the likes of Beabadoobee, Dave, Bicep and Wolf Alice.
