Producer Tom Gorai (A Tribe Called Quest, Nine Inch Nails) strikes again as his visual artist alter-ego Sweeten for Blesson Roy’s “Undertow” single.

2021 remix of Blesson Roy album cut “Ana Left Spain” to be released Sept. 24^th, accompanied by two all-new tracks. Debut Think Like Spring, out now.
 
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Terry Borden of Blesson Roy as photographed by Ankhurr Chawaak
 
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Blesson Roy | “Undertow”
 

 
 
[VIDEO (SWEETENED)]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QliQI73nvM
 
“‘Undertow’ took on a darker and lusher soundscape than I had originally imagined, having written that one as a Leonard Cohen or Nick Drake-influenced acoustic guitar song. As the recording unfolded, however, I realized that ‘Undertow’ needed a dark ambient soundscape rather than a stripped-down acoustic production. I had the time and intention to be open to following songs in one direction, and then going in the opposite musical direction, until it seemed that the song had found its way home in the recording.” — Terry Borden, Blesson Roy
 
“‘Undertow’ is yet another example of a bit of magic from Blesson Roy, and damn if he didn’t fill this song with everything dope. After I listened to it about five times, I decided I had to make something that gives a sense of what I see and feel when I hear it. So, I took a look at an art piece that I was working on and some recent footage I shot with a model in Death Valley, and start blending them while listening to the song over and over and over, and I go timeless in my head and when then I come to, I’m looking at something strangely perfect.
 
“It is layered and dense and colorful and even a bit haunting with a headless horsewoman, and feels very much like being stuck in an undertow, maybe gonna die, but just waiting it out kind of patiently until it’s over. Of course it is dark out and it turns out the whole day had passed, so oops, I guess I’ll have to get back to everyone tomorrow.” — Sweeten, Director, “Undertow”
 
See the “Sweetened” video of “Undertow” by Blesson Roy now via It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine here or at the link above.
  
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Order Think Like Spring by Blesson Roy as a deluxe-package 180gm white vinyl edition at Bandcamp here.
 
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Blesson Roy
Think Like Spring
Out Now
(Slow Start Records)
 
Streaming Link:
STREAM FULL LP

Track Listing:
 
01. Soothe (STREAM)
02. Fingerprints Of Love
03. Undertow (STREAM | VIDEO | VIDEO [SWEETENED])
04. Should’ve Known Better (VIDEO | LYRIC VIDEO | REMIX)
05. Ana Left Spain
06. Stays With You (STREAM | VIDEO | LYRIC VIDEO)
07. The Loving Sea
08. Waterfall Drops
09. Maria Rain
10. Thousand (STREAM | VIDEO)
11. Near
12. I Can See You
13. Falling
14. The Gaps
 
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Blesson Roy | In The Press
 
“Articulate songwriting... deliciously catchy hooks.” — American Songwriter
 
“A new sound in a new decade.” — PopMatters
 
“Dreamy and earthy. — The Big Takeover
 
“Intricately-arranged pop.” — MXDWN
 
“One of the catchiest numbers of the year.” — Stereo Embers
 
“Hypnotic.” — Treble
 
“Sunny, Beach Boys-esque.” — Glide Magazine
 
“Beach Boys with Big Star’s vibrant melodies.” — Beats Per Minute
 
“Will expand your mind.” — BTRtoday
 
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Blesson Roy | “Should’ve Known Better”
 

 

  [VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHB3XhFITaI
  
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Hear “Should’ve Known Better” by Blesson Roy via American Songwriter and see the video at Under The Radar or at the links below.
 
Calling back to the bright tones and sweet melodies of Britpop. Amidst a jangly guitar-led instrumental and sharp vocal hook, Terry Borden of Blesson Roy takes listeners on another trip back through his record collection, showing his ability to incorporate and synthesize styles as both a creator and a fan.
 
“It’s basically the designed cinematic and aural engaged focus, rhythm, and pacing of a real ‘climactic’ human moment,” says director Tom Gorai aka Sweeten, the Grammy® and Emmy®-nominated producer who has also produced videos for Pearl Jam (“Jeremy”), Nine Inch Nails, and A Tribe Called Quest tells Under The Radar of his clip for the Blesson Roy single “Should’ve Known Better,” which depicts a masked Los Angeles, courtesy of a cyclist who biffs it, and a liquor store parking lot dancer who clearly does not.
 
The “Should’ve Known Better,” video captures the “happy-sad emotional connection” that Borden – a veteran of slowcore pioneers Idaho and world-wide tours as part of Pete Yorn’s band – recently told American Songwriter he was working towards when writing the song. “I like the energy, the guitars, and the contrasting bittersweet light and dark tones of the words and music. The chord progression was persistently coming out when I picked up the guitar over a long period of time. It required a permanent home!”
 
Influenced by The Smiths, Leonard Cohen, The Beatles, David Bowie, New Order, Lou Reed, Punk and Post-Punk from the 80s and 90s, as well as the roots of those movements from the 60s and 70s, Borden brings these and more to his debut album, Think Like Spring, out now via Slow Start Records.
 
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Blesson Roy | About
 
Think Like Spring is the debut album from life-long “music lover and music doer,” Terry Borden, the man behind Blesson Roy, and follows-up Borden’s twin 2020 EPs “Time Is A Crime” and “Time Is A Crime (Almost Acoustic).”
 
The album is the 14-song dreamy pop reflection of a child of 1970’s California whose early love of AM radio and his brother’s record collection led to membership in slowcore pioneers Idaho and Pete Yorn’s band Dirty Bird. Living in the UK during the explosion of subculture labels 4AD, Creation, Factory, and Rough Trade has also heavily influenced the Blesson Roy sound.
 
Think Like Spring was recorded during the COVID-19 lockdown.
 
“I was alone in the studio adjacent to my home and had no distractions other than the feeling of being truly alone in the recording space, for days and weeks on end,” Borden explains. “The positive effect of the pandemic isolation in the studio was the time and ability to focus on the musical details in the songs, and extend the searches for the right chemical reactions that manifested in each track.”
 
“Think Like Spring is a suggestion for a train of thought, which is focused on positivity and renewal,” Borden continues, discussing the album’s overall concept. “This is an especially important time for all of us to embrace the new positive and negative paradigm shifts with a sense of creativity and invention.”
 
About the album’s upcoming singles, Borden says, “‘Undertow’ took on a darker and lusher soundscape than I had originally imagined, having written that one as a Leonard Cohen or Nick Drake-influenced acoustic guitar song. As the recording unfolded, however, I realized that ‘Undertow’ needed a dark ambient soundscape rather than a stripped-down acoustic production.”
 
Borden explains that “Stays With You” was “a journey into dynamics with the chorus exploding out of the verses. It was a lot of fun and very satisfying to create the verse and chorus as almost two different bits of music that tied together emotionally but remained separate dynamically.”
 
“I ventured into some new areas musically,” he says of ‘Thousand,’ which “became more of an emotional, anthemic recording; a bit of a departure. It was thrilling to construct ‘Thousand’ and draw on unbridled emotion for that one.”
 
“I am pleased that a song with the characteristics of ‘Undertow’ sits next to an indie rocker like ‘Should’ve Known Better,’ Borden says of the album’s final planned single. “I have always loved records that have different types of songs with a fearless approach to production that serves the song not the style of music. The Beatles’ ‘White Album’ is the pinnacle of this type of approach.”
 
Ultimately, Borden says that he tried to give each song a separate identity with a unique personality.
 
“I can’t say if I succeeded in this, but it was the way I recorded and structured the sound of each track. Writing and recording Think Like Spring was pure joy with patches of frustration that happen in any creative process. The songs and the creation of the recordings felt like a warm place in a cold and dangerous world.”
 
Think Like Spring by Blesson Roy is out now via Slow Start Records. Terry Borden is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.
 
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Blesson Roy | Links
 
ASSETS : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : BANDCAMP : SPOTIFY : APPLE
 
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL