The freshly blossomed beauty that is Louise Burns’ latest release, “Bloom '' is a classic love story. Burns reflects on unrequited feelings of attachment while pondering her own sense of commitment. She seems to criticize missing calls and neglectfulness from the subject of her love, and yet is also scared of commitment herself. That is, committing to being without them. She seems to cherish this person almost biblically, speaking of “believing” and “following” them. References to the ocean and cleansing through water expand upon this. Burns’ sense of adoration is painted romantically with her upbeat tone and yet as the lyrics reflect, it is far from this. The sea of emotions she explores appear to go much deeper than the enchanting sounds that grasp ones attention on a first listen, with lyrics such as “I can’t imagine another way” being overtaken by the listeners own imagination when hearing her dreamy instrumentals. It is in this way that Burns skillfully manages to blend upbeat and emotional themes without either traits being diminished, and it is what makes “Bloom” such a captivating piece.
The song begins with Louise Burns’ own voice being used as an instrument, echoing and merging with techno beats in the background. As the lyrics begin, her voice has a noticeably nostalgic sound, reminiscent of early 2000s pop, the beat and tone of her words follows this theme as well. The background, though, is nostalgic in a different way, comparable to 80s pop. Burns has said it was partially inspired by video game music. The use of this music, which is normally ignored, is excellent, creating a theme of nostalgia that the listener senses but may have trouble putting a finger on. This isn’t the only place where Burns puts her creativity to work, later featuring ocean sounds including a whale call. Following this, she manages still to expand on the uniqueness of the song even more, exploring an R&B style melody following the chorus. The end of “Bloom” allocates almost a minute to Louise vocalizing with instrumentals but is just as enthralling as the rest of the song, clearly displaying her talent beyond a standard song format; it is a shining example of her ability to simply create where there is nothing.
Louise Burns, a Canada based singer, producer, and songwriter, began her music career nearly two decades ago with the band Lillix, which she co-founded at only eleven years old. Just four years later at fifteen, she began working with Maverick Records, releasing two albums with the band. When Lillix fell apart, she continued as a solo indie artist. Since then, she has released ten singles and five albums. Her work has been nominated for the Polaris Music Prize and a SOCAN songwriting prize. She’s kept herself occupied even beyond this, working with other artists such as FIONN, Molly Annelle, and Jody Glenham. Her popularity has only grown globally, with tours across the world in three continents, her social media boasting thousands of followers and verified accounts, and her songs reaching hundreds of thousands of streams. I hope to only see this expand with her latest releases, so make sure to contribute to her already overwhelming success by following Louise Burns below and streaming “Bloom”.
Written By Hailey Schap
FOLLOW LOUISE: