Between the Mountain and the Moon

A consistently engaging live performer, Bloom’s recorded output over the last decade has always striven to match the majesty of his concert performances – with varying degrees of success.

His third independent release and follow-up to Keeper Of The Flame, his well-received album of covers, Between The Mountain And The Moon is classic Bloom – a collection of strong songs, with no shortage of unexpected instrumental and lyrical twists.

Opening on a relatively subdued note with the gentle, spoken-word, ‘Monsoon’, it’s clear that he’s in a completitive, introspective mood, the Middle Eastern rhythms lending it a strange mystical quality. The more syncopated ‘Perfect Groove’ sees him veer even more into exotic textures with Arabic sounding melodies and off-kilter guitar-lines (recalling Joe Strummer’s similar exercise on ‘Yalla Yalla’)

More straightforward love songs such as the soaring ‘Here & Now’ and the gorgeous ‘Love Is A Place I Dream Of’ find him on more familiar territory, the latter featuring a typically sympathetic and understated harmony vocal from Sinéad O’Connor.

If there is a theme running through the album it’s one of return to the land, spiritually as well as physically with wild, rough landscapes and heavy weather predominating lyrically. ‘Hands Of A Farmer’ is dedicated to traditional legend Micho Russell while ‘I’m A Bogman’ which could be construed as a comical throwaway is, on the contrary, a deadly serious affirmation of Bloom’s true roots in “the precious wetlands... where the heather and the moss grows.”

Other highlights on this exquisitely produced album include ‘Moonslide’, ‘As I Waved Goodbye’ and the autobiographical ‘Rainbow Day’. Arguably, his most fully realised collection of original songs yet.