Blossoms have announced their sixth studio album Songs From The Wedding Cake and released a new music video starring Maya Jama.
The promo for the funky disco track Meet Me In Love – which features backing vocals from Declan McKenna and was written during a trip to the Lake District – stars Love Island host Maya alongside It’s a Sin actor Callum Scott-Howells, who returns as the narrator introduced in the lead single Joke About Divorce’s video.
The latter featured backing vocals by their regular collaborator Rick Astley.
Frontman Tom Ogden said of the latest tune: “Meet Me In Love was written on a songwriting trip to the Lake District with Natalie Findlay and Jules Apollinaire. As often happens, it was the last day and we’d pretty much accepted that there probably weren’t any more songs left to write. We started messing around with a simple two chord disco groove and, within a couple of hours, the whole thing seemed to fall into place.
“It’s one of those songs that felt exciting from the moment it arrived. I remember driving home from the Lakes listening to the demo on repeat for most of the journey. We later finished the recording with Shawn Lee at Tilehouse Studios, tracking live to tape, but a lot of what made us fall in love with the song in the first place came from that original demo, so plenty of those parts survived onto the final record.”
He added of the music video: “Directed by myself, the video for ‘Meet Me In Love’ continues the world we first created in the video for Joke About Divorce, with Callum Scott Howells returning as our narrator. We shot it on 16mm film at Chad’s Theatre in Stockport, which gave everything the same cinematic feel we loved from the previous video.
“After meeting Maya Jama at the MTV EMAs in Manchester a couple of years ago, we took a chance and sent her a DM to see if she’d be interested in being involved. She replied straight away saying she was up for it, and she was an absolute joy to work with. Together we created something that feels like a love letter to old Hollywood, 70s disco glamour and classic Top of the Pops performances. It’s colourful, romantic and a little bit surreal, which felt like the perfect visual for the song.”
Tom said producer Shawn Lee’s approach encouraged the band to explore warmer, funk-leaning influences, adding: “Shawn was very chilled and he’s up for letting everyone try new approaches. Working with him was a joy and he got the influences I was pulling from, even artists like Kid Creole and the funkier side of Blossoms.”
The album title references Stockport’s Victorian town hall – known locally as “the wedding cake” – where Tom married his wife.
The record comprises ten tracks, also including Husband, The Kardashians and Additional Driver, which also features Declan.
Alongside the album announcement, the Honey Sweet band have confirmed their biggest UK headline tour to date.
Later this year, they will play Cardiff, London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow later this year, with The Royston Club joining them as special guests.
Fan pre-sale opens at 9.30am on June 24, with general sale beginning at 9.30am on June 26.
Blossoms’ UK arena tour dates:
November 26 – Cardiff, Utilita Arena
November 27 – London, Alexandra Palace
November 28 – Manchester, Co-op Live
December 4 – Birmingham, Utilita Arena
December 5 – Glasgow, OVO Hydro
Songs From The Wedding Cake tracklisting:
1. Joke About Divorce
2. Husband
3. Meet Me In Love
4. The Kardashians
5. Additional Driver (Feat. Declan McKenna)
6. Fall Into You
7. Guts
8. Uma Therman
9. Where Have You Been My Whole Life?
10. The Deep End
