Last week, I received Bloom 604 debut self-titled album, and I was amazed by the effort of a solo effort by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Jack Briscoe. I had a chat with him and digging deeper into his project themes, formation, music, and more. Let’s find out!
• What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.
I spent most of my teenage years and early 20’s playing drums in various metal and hardcore bands, but I always knew I wanted to venture out on my own. In 2020 I finally put the time and resources into fulfilling that vision. I wrote and recorded the songs in September and sent them over to Lucas Inacio at Fløver for production and mastering shortly thereafter. From there I recruited my good friends Linden Poirier and Josh Lauze on bass and drums respectively and Lucas Inacio on second guitars, forming the lineup we have today!
• Provide us with some info about your latest release…
BLOOM is a collection of songs in various styles, particularly post-punk, shoegaze and post-hardcore. I feel that each song has its own distinct identity, yet the album comes together under a coherent aesthetic.
• Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?
My biggest musical influence is probably Sonic Youth- the variety of sonic landscapes they conjure from song to song is so inspiring to me. Every album of theirs sounds unique and timeless. Outside of music, I’m deeply inspired by the love of my friends and family. If it wasn’t for their constant support, this project wouldn’t be where it is now.
• In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?
Honestly, I don’t know of many artists that sound like Bloom 604. The project has been compared to IDLES, Fontaines D.C. and Killing Joke by fans and journalists, but none of them were direct influences on the album. I try to take the Sonic Youth approach of having each song have its own distinct identity, and as a result, I think I’ve created something rather unique that represents nothing other than myself and my emotional state in the turbulent year of 2020.
• Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…
This is a great question! For albums, I’d say Lift Your Skinny Fists to Heaven by Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Jane Doe by Converge, and Sister by Sonic Youth. My movie choices would be Drive, Spirited Away, and Mandy. For books, Crime and Punishment, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and Kafka on the Shore.
• Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?
Well, I recorded these songs myself in my apartment, except the drums which I recorded at Lindsay Music Studio, so I didn’t really get the traditional studio experience, though I’d love to do that for the next record. However as much as I enjoyed the process of creation, there’s something truly special about performing live. Me and the band are working hard on getting our live set as tight as possible for when shows actually happen again. Here in Vancouver, everything is still fully locked down, so it will be a while. In the meantime, we plan on filming a live set and uploading it to Youtube sometime in the next month, so keep an eye out for that!
• Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?
I suppose the most interesting story we’ve got so far was the writing process… I wrote and recorded the album in under a month. I went into an almost manic state, writing every day and just fully immersing myself in the process. The next phase was bringing it to my producer Lucas Inacio at Fløver, who really went above and beyond with excellent production, mastering, artwork, and social media coordination. He did a fantastic job polishing and finessing the work I had done, and together we produced a record that we’re both genuinely proud of.
• Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?
I would point to Chroma as the most unique track on the record. I don’t really know what genre it fits into, and it’s quite experimental.
• Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?
Absolutely! Right now our focus is on promoting the record to journalists, driving traffic to our crowdfunding page for printing the album on vinyl, and getting our live set together! All in all, things are going well and we have some very exciting content that will be coming out soon.
Bloom 604 on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, and Bandcamp.
