Bloom - A Review on RUFUS DU SOL’s Sophomore Album
Final Rating: 10/10
Bloom’s opening seconds are startling. Whereas their debut album, Atlas, established RUFUS DU SOL’s sound of bouncy tropical chords over soft drum beats, their sophomore album kicks off with rainfall. “Brighter” sets the tone for the rest of the album, filled with soul-touching harmonies and some of the group's catchiest hooks. Bloom doesn’t stop sounding good at any point in its 51 minute runtime.
RUFUS DU SOL, composed of Australian producers James Hunt, Tyrone Lindqvist, and Jon George, made a radical decision for their sophomore album: they moved from the festival tents of Sydney to the dark moody clubs of Berlin. Once the context of Bloom’s composition is understood, it’s undeniable in its club banger origins. The industrial synths on house tracks like “You Were Right” overflow with techno influence, reminiscent of the underground electronica scene of Berlin in 2016. The drumbeats established in Atlas are still present in the love ballads “Like an Animal” and “Say a Prayer For Me,” but they take a backseat as the album progresses, being replaced with quintessentially European motifs that sound like they belong more in a Tiësto show than in a RUFUS album. But the arguable greatest track of the album is the almost-ten-minute finale, “Innerbloom.” Whereas the tracks before it crackle with twitchy dance genius, “Innerbloom” slows down. It’s a haunting melody that barely changes over the course of its runtime. But there’s a break, and like many RUFUS tracks, it tells a story. Vocalist Tyrone Lindqvist pours his heart out onto the mic in a display that is barely matched anywhere else in the group’s discography.
Tyrone Lindqvist keeps setting a new standard on each album. In SOLACE, the group’s third album, his voice takes on a new chaos among the (slightly sexual) lyrics. But in Bloom, Lindqvist goes somewhere he never manages to get back to. Even at his last call, when he hollers into the void, “If you want me / If you need me / I’m yours,” he remains so faithful to the sound of the album that it features prominently, a low tempo section of this song, in the radio edit that topped charts all over the world.
The genius of the lyrics doesn’t stop there. With Bloom, RUFUS establishes a motif of pure hopeless love that carries over from Atlas and continues into SOLACE, Surrender, and eventually Inhale/Exhale. But in Bloom, the lyrics ignore everything and dilute into pure desire. It’s almost a sequel to Atlas, but where the former was confident and straightforward, the latter is shy, slow, and undeniably naive. Just the chorus of “Tell Me” highlights naivety and uncertainty: “Tell me you love me / Tell me it’s you I crave / Say you believe in me or don’t say a word to me”. It’s a strange interaction with whoever the speaker is talking to, asking for either belief in them or nothing at all.
The juxtaposition of the alien album cover with an opening song that starts with rainfall is genius in and of itself. Bloom has an air of difference in the discography that’s so hard to describe without delving into the composition of the albums that surround it. In an interview with Music Times, the group agrees that moving to Berlin for the album’s composition was essential for the departure it provides. It would have been impossible for the dark atmosphere of Bloom to exist without the environment of Berlin surrounding the group; it would be impossible for the undeniable brightness of RUFUS to shine through. What very easily could have been a downfall album, the effective end of the titans of the festival tents, ended up being a heartfelt tribute to the stage set by Atlas, and a manifesto for the sound that will come after.