Dreampop duo atmos bloom create lofty soundscapes with driving drums and faultless hooks. Based in Manchester; Tilda Gratton & Curtis Paterson channel the 90s heyday of shoegaze, whilst injecting some modern bite into the genre.
We spoke to Tilda & Curtis about the new project, their inspiration and the good that has come from the mass shutdown of the music world.
We’ll get the boring Q out of the way early: could you talk us through the name?
The words ‘atmos bloom’ were assembled purely because we liked how they sounded and read, initially given as the name of a fictional character in Curtis’ head, it later became the name of our new musical project.
How did you meet? And what do you each bring to the band sonically?
Tilda replied to an online ad for a band member for a different project, then we soon realised we both shared a love of dream pop and lofi bedroom pop and atmos bloom grew from there. Everything in atmos bloom is done equally, with both of us writing on guitar or bass and bringing demos together to record and bounce new ideas. Once we start recording we layer guitars over each other’s work to create a dreamy sound that we feel is atmos bloom.
Has the Coronavirus lockdown been the catalyst for atmos bloom’s formation? Or has it been a compromise for the band? Or perhaps both?
We both feel grateful for the additional time we had in lockdown to be able to write and explore new ways of recording. As bedroom recorders we didn’t have to compromise on the recording front. We definitely used atmos bloom to fill the void of the Manchester music scene sitting quietly, and for now we are itching to get back to gigging, so the lockdown has been both a catalyst and compromise for us.
We love new artists who are keeping dream-pop & shoegaze interesting; are there any other new-gen shoegaze artists who you are into?
Both of us are big fans of lots of dream pop and shoegaze. We love the label Spirit Goth with their lofi/bedroom pop in particular CASTLEBEAT as well as Orchid Mantis and dream ivory. For heavier stuff Froth and Peel Dream Magazine are two of our favourites.
What does 2021 have in store for you? Have atmos bloom began looking into shows or new music yet?
We’ve been working on new material ever since we released the EP. So hopefully 2021 has plenty more music and some gigs in store!
atmos bloom’s debut EP is out now, available online via streaming services or bandcamp
press shot: Liv Kenny
