Paradise Blossom is the project of Thanh Nguyen and Steven Salazar. Utilizing inspiration from movies as well as drawing inspiration from the nostalgic “teen dream of creating a band with your friends,” the Fresno, CA based duo perfectly combine dream pop and shoegaze (or “dreamgaze”); all self-produced, their sound is equal parts passionate and wistful, complete with gauzy guitars, echoed vocals, and balanced with stoic percussion. “drown” is their third single since the release of their excellent 2022 album Sunset Getaway, following already released singles “wherever you are.,” “forever, with you,” and “glitter eyes.” The newest single leans comparably further into their shoegaze side, and regarding its inspiration, which the duo explained, this move is apt:
[“drown” is] a song about giving up yourself for love. Love is supposed to be something that makes you happy, but the more we give ourselves away, the more we feel sadness, almost like we’re drowning, hence the loudness of the song. All the instruments you could hear, but can’t isolate, you feel instead of trying to identify. Listen instead of trying to look.
Lush, heavy, and gorgeously all-encompassing, the instrumentals in “drown” beautifully soundtrack the narratives of dire devotion and complete and total surrender to the unknown. And the recognition of this vulnerability within is almost surreal, uncanny; the guitars respond by growing even sharper, more rarefied. The lyrics are revelations of the deeper, darker parts of one’s subconscious; “you make it feel safe/ just to drown in you,” he explains before dissolving back into the haze of synth once again.
“drown” is out now.
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photo courtesy of artist
kid with a vinyl 