Vlossom - Catch Your Breath

15 Nov 2019

Vlossom

// MUSIC

Welcome to the world of Vlossom – the first release on Nick Littlemore and Peter Mayes’ newly launched label, Lab78. The music of Vlossom is an entry into another world, a wonderland both beautifully futuristic and profoundly elemental. Vlossom is a newly birthed collaboration between Australian musicians Nick Littlemore (of multi-platinum selling acts Empire of the Sun & PNAU) and Alister Wright (frontman of Australian indie rock band Cloud Control).  

The first glimpse into their world-bending, Vlossom’s debut single “Catch Your Breath” unfolds in hypnotic rhythms and ethereal vocal work, a graceful collision of electronic experimentation and live instrumentation (largely provided by a line-up of legendary musicians whom Littlemore met through his work with Elton John). The lush and luminous track speaks to a metaphorical loss of composure. “It’s that feeling of seeing a thing of absolute beauty, whether it’s a girl or guy or plant or animal, and being brought into a heightened reality,” says Littlemore. “For the most part our everyday lives are fairly menial, so those moments when we do lose our breath are really something to dwell on.”  

Vlossom symphonize elements of pop and psych-rock and electronic music into something strangely multisensory—a body of work possessed of its own distinct texture and temperature and colour and perfume, euphoric and often trance-inducing yet undeniably transformative.  

The equally colourful video for “Catch Your Breath” was filmed in a mausoleum in Los Angeles. Littlemore describes the creative process behind it: “The clip was directed by the incomparable Nicolas Randall, a visionary director whose understanding of colour and movement is second to none. It was shot in an amazing mortuary; the song deals with crossing over to parallel dimensions. Nicolas played with this concept in this location, breathing wondrously strange energy into a lifeless place, uber-styled and choreographed by masters in their field.” 

True to the enchanted nature of the project, Vlossom emerged from a moment of charmed spontaneity: while walking down the street one autumn day in Adelaide, Littlemore bumped into Wright and immediately proposed that they make an album together. “He had this exuberance that shone through as he approached me, and right away I felt compelled to offer myself up for the slaughter,” says Littlemore. Several months later, the two musicians joined up for their first session, during which Littlemore played a number of backing tracks he’d recently created (including a few pieces made with Tim Lefebvre, a bassist known for his work with David Bowie). “Without really talking or anything, Nick threw me straight in and had me sing over all these instrumentals,” Wright recalls. “I ended up getting so lost in it, and just singing whatever came into my head at the time.” 

Working from Wright’s improvised vocal melodies, Littlemore added lyrics and further structure to those preliminary tracks, and later invited Wright out to Los Angeles to begin the recording process with his longtime collaborator Peter Mayes. “Before we started working, I wanted to make sure we were on the same wavelength as far as wanting to bring love and light into the world with this project,” says Littlemore. As part of that initiation, Wright had a vision of laughing flowers—an echo of the psychedelic revelation that inspired the project’s name. “The word ‘Vlossom’ felt emblematic of the emotion that we wanted to channel through our music, and it also went along with the idea of this project being a way to bring something back from another world and give it a home in this one,” Wright says. 

“Catch Your Breath” is the first taste of Vlossom’s debut EP, set to drop in 2020. In each new piece that Vlossom create, the energy manifests as a benevolent effervescence, one that ultimately leaves the listener with a renewed sense of wonder. “If we can impart anything to people, I hope it’s that feeling of losing yourself in a moment, stepping outside of yourself in the best imaginable way,” says Littlemore.

Stream/Download Vlossom - Catch Your Breath: https://vlossom.lnk.to/CYBWE

Vlossom - Catch Your Breath