Bobbie. Pip Blom

"Don't forget to listen to our album", was the message from @Pipblom on X, following my review of one of the singles. It took me a long time to get into the stride of Bobbie. Despite returning to the album time and again, there was something keeping me from writing and many-a-time I was about to give up. I haven't and am ready to write, finally.

Why now? One part is the pop feel of Bobbie finally catching up with me. Another part is the seduction in the voice of Pip Blom that did not come across for quite some time. The third element is the fact that several of the songs are simply so much better than I first thought.

Undeniably, Bobbie is different from the band's first two albums. They were good but not absolute favourites. Bobbie takes a right turn towards pop music. There's more electronics and happy-go-lucky melodies. This distracted me no little from what is really happening on the album. Pip Blom jumped into the 00s pop and punkfunk. The combination comes out at high level it turns out. It shows how a listener can be distracted from the precious stones that lie underneath, hiding in plain sight.

The electronics that start 'Tiger' for example. So 1980s, but the decade seldom had the swing Pip Blom manages to put into the song. This is more sex than doom, to put it plainly. Pip Blom has grown as a band and its singer as vocalist. Despite the fact the band's a trio now and translating the fact their drummer, Gini Cameron, left the band to have a baby, to a live setting without one, on record Cameron was still there. This is a band that dared to make the next step, to experiment beyond what current fans may expect. My guess is that this album will land the band more fans than it had before. Bobbie is a more mature album, that allows for partying as well. An album that combines the head, the heart and the soul.

The collaborations with Personal Trainer's. and Pip Blom's partner, Willem Smit and Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos work well. The first is almost a dance track and took me a lot of time to digest. Now I have, I recognise the quality the song contains. With Kapranos Pip Blom made a modern form of a Franz Ferdinand song holding only a little back from what the Glasgow band would do itself. Both are proof of the development of Pip Blom. This very much is the real thing.

What Pip Blom dares to do, is rock, like in 'Where Did You Get My Number?' There are beats underneath it all, but this is rock alright. The band really goes for it, loud and clear. Pip Blom is so much more straight forward in its goals and achievements. It really shows what it is capable of and so is singer Pip Blom. As if she's no longer hiding herself and really takes the centre stage. Where she should be as singer and principal songwriter.

What surprises me most perhaps, at this stage in my relation with Bobbie, is that the album still has the capability to grow further. You do not find it in my favourite albums of 2023, but perhaps you should ask me again next year where I will be in hindsight.

Bobbie caught me off guard and presented me with something that I did not want to hear, at first. At this point zero the adventure started and I'm still progressing. Usually a situation an album wants to be in. To be continued...

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Bobbie here:

https://pipblom.bandcamp.com/album/bobbie-2