The Nightblooms

Album Review

The Nightblooms are a Dutch group who are profoundly affected by the British shoegazing scene — their combination of noisy, dreamy guitars and hazily sweet female vocals sits somewhere near that of Black Tambourine, the band that practically defined the American side of the genre. On the band's self-titled debut album, this sound is captured fairly effectively, coming out sounding open and organic; the band's songwriting, however, has never been as brilliant as some of its peers, marking them as a solid but ultimately second-tier act in a very appealing scene.