Midweek chart updates can throw up strange, poetic neighborly alignments. Following the release of their sixth studio record, Songs From The Wedding Cake, Blossoms found themselves sitting at number two in the UK standings, flanked on either side by North West royalty. Just ahead was a reissue of Rubber Soul by The Beatles, while Johnny Marr trailed close behind with his new solo album, The Age Of Everything. Liverpool claimed one flank, Manchester took the other, and Stockport held the center. Frontman Tom Ogden noted the geographical neatness of the situation, admitting it was a chart picture he never could have envisioned when the five musicians were putting out their debut ten years ago.
Released on Friday, October 2, the album turns away from broad, cinematic romance to concentrate on the domestic patterns of marriage. Ogden married Katie Donovan, the sister of Blossoms drummer Joe Donovan, in 2021. Rather than writing traditional love songs, he focused on the funny, unpolished incidents that he describes as the extraordinary ordinary. His lyrics examine the smaller realities of sharing a home, including blurting out the wrong comment during an argument, accidentally wiping out a spouse's car insurance no claims bonus, and crying while watching the Kardashians. Even the record title keeps things local. Stockport Town Hall has long been called the Wedding Cake by residents because of its tiered shape. Since Ogden celebrated his own wedding reception inside the building, the title works both as a direct reference to his marriage and as a nod to the band's hometown roots.
That breezy perspective builds on the direction Blossoms took on their 2024 LP, Gary. That album memorably featured a track about a stolen fibreglass gorilla, an eccentric narrative that found favor with their audience and proved that a relaxed, offbeat spirit could comfortably carry their music. On Songs From The Wedding Cake, that lighthearted energy carried over into writing sessions with Declan McKenna, who joined Ogden to work on songs while the pair sat together in a hot tub, pairing unusual collaborations with intimate subject matter.
The creative process in the studio took an intentionally tactile route. Working alongside producer Shawn Lee, Blossoms recorded the entire project live straight to tape, rejecting artificial intelligence and digital workarounds. Ogden noted that committing the music to physical tape set the standard for how the entire campaign had to be presented. The band sat down to select their visual color palette and handled the execution on their own terms. Rather than using computer rendering for the album sleeve, they commissioned 3D printed body scans of all five members, turned them into miniature cake toppers, arranged them on an actual cake, and photographed the setup for the official cover artwork.
That handmade ethos extended straight into the video shoots and promotional events. Ogden directed and edited the music videos himself, working exclusively on real physical sets that the band and their friends built by hand without relying on green screens. When they opened a pop-up shop over the launch weekend, a local painter created a hand-painted version of the cover art for the shop sign. The band saw human imperfections, like a slightly wonky wooden flat, as clear evidence that actual people were present in the room making the work. Ogden pointed out that spending over a decade together as five lads from Stockport represents a real bond that an algorithm could never reproduce.
That practical visual style came together on the video for the lead single, Meet Me In Love. Television presenter Maya Jama stars in the clip, having agreed to participate after Blossoms sent her a direct message following a conversation at the MTV EMAs in Manchester. Shot inside a theatre in Cheadle, the video features Jama lip-syncing Ogden's vocals while performing to a crowd made up entirely of people dressed to look like Ogden. The release arrived right alongside Jama's appearance on the UK television series Celebrity Traitors, where she was picked to serve as a traitor alongside fellow contestants James Acaster and Richard E Grant. Having watched her spend an entire day convincingly pretending to sing his lyrics, Ogden joked that she clearly possesses the deceptive talent needed to go far in the castle.
