BDRMM
+ Mildred Maude + Kills Symbols
Hull/Leeds based five-piece bdrmm release their much anticipated debut Bedroom on July 3, via Sonic Cathedral. The 10-track album was recorded late last year at The Nave studio in Leeds by Alex Greaves (Working Mens Club, Bo Ningen) and mastered in Brooklyn by Heba Kadry (Slowdive, Beach House). It’s a hugely accomplished debut and a real step up both sonically and lyrically from their early singles, which were rounded up on last year’s If Not, When? EP. Musically, there are nods to The Cure’s Disintegration, Deerhunter and DIIV, while the band reference RIDE and Radiohead. There are also echoes of krautrock and post-punk, from The Chameleons to Protomartyr, plus the proto-shoegaze of the Pale Saints’ The Comforts Of Madness, not least in the cross-fading of some tracks, meaning the album is an almost seamless listen. As a result, Bedroom becomes an unexpected and unintentional concept album, running through the different stages of a break- up set against the backdrop of the ups and downs of your early twenties. “The subject matter spans mental health, alcohol abuse, unplanned pregnancy, drugs... basically every cliché topic that you could think of,” reveals frontman Ryan Smith. “But that doesn’t mean they ever stop being relevant. It’s a fucker growing up, but I’m lucky enough to have been able to project my feelings in the form of this band, surrounded by four of the best people I’ve ever met.” And that band name, in case it needs explaining, is pronounced the same way as the album title. “I never thought I’d get to the stage where I would have to explain it so much,” says Ryan. “We have been pronounced as Boredom, Bdum and my old boss actually thought we were a ska band called Bad Riddim. We’re all sarcastic cunts, so Bedroom spelt correctly seemed like the perfect title.” He’s right. The perfect title for the perfect debut album.
Line Up
Formed into the early hours of 2017, Ryan Smith took his solo project from bedroom to stage in what feels like an instant. Under the moniker bdrmm the Hull 5-piece cut their teeth across Northern venues, before releasing opening two singles, the twin-paced 'kare' and sprawling anti-epic 'the way i want'.
Those releases caught the attention of numerous tastemakers in MTV, So Young, Clash Magazine, DORK, Radio 1 and more, as well as boutique London label Permanent Creeps, who are releasing their second track with the band. Their first collaboration was on C.U., a slice of anxious shoegaze that earned plays from BBC 6Music’s Steve Lamacq and a spot on Spotify’s Hot New Bands playlist.
A slimy cocktail of synth-soaked Beach House, jangly slackers DIIV and otherworldly shoe-gazers Slowdive, the group combine a knack for weaving dreamy sonic textures and sentimental story-telling together perfectly.
‘C.U.’ is the sweetest shoegaze, starting off with melancholic indie charm, it drones until it lifts up when the sparse vocals kick in. With more instrumentation fuzzing out the grunge laden end, ‘C.U.’ entices with charming emotion. - So Young Magazine
"bdrmm make gleefully noisy pop with an electronic bent, matching the humane to the digital with effortless ease." - Clash Magazine
"a masterclass in bedroom pop." - DORK
