Music Makers

Blueprint Playlist: Pretty Bitter + Flowerbomb

feature image photo credit: Kohei Kane

Welcome 2 a brand new Blueprint Playlist—where I ask artists with new music out to share five(ish) songs that have inspired or informed the songs in some way or another.

This one is a dual playlist from DC bands Pretty Bitter and Flowerbomb, who put out a split EP called Take Me Out in August. Take Me Out is a real "two great tastes that taste great together" situation, with both bands providing their spin on melodic, unobstructed dream-pop-indie-rock on a couple songs each, and then collaborating on the twangy title track.

Now let us journey into the EP's inspo, first with Pretty Bitter (Mel Bleker, Miriam Tyler, Zack Be, Jason Hayes, and Chris Smith) and then with Flowerbomb (Abby Rasheed, Connor White, Dan ABH, and Rachel Kline)...

Pretty Bitter's Blueprint Playlist

“Sugar” - Men I Trust

For "youbuiltafinelife," I wanted to write a bass driven song that highlighted my love of a good 'pocket.' I learned how to play in the context of Jazz/Funk and I've been inspired by the way Men I Trust fuses those genre roots with a fresh indie sound since I first heard them. — Miri

"I'm Not Part of Me" - Cloud Nothings

Cloud Nothings almost never misses when it comes to building excitement through stacked pop hooks, catchy rock riffs, and basement show ethos, which is kind of a perfect analogy for what we were reaching for with "Never Better," nevermind the fact that this song is about solitary self-discovery by way of understanding what has influenced you. — Zack

“Over Everything” - Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile

"Over Everything" is the first track off of the Kurt Vile/ Courtney Barnett duo record, and it's this melodically rich and emotional tune all about coming out of your private musical world to embrace the rest of what's around you—there was no better mindset to access when heading into making "Take Me Out" with Flowerbomb. — Zack

“The Con” - Tegan and Sara

I’m not sure if it was a direct influence, but I was listening to The Con on repeat around the time we were writing the split. There’s a quality to the vocal affect on this song in particular where you can *feel* a tension and desperation, and it hits me at 29 the same way it did at 14. — Mel

“She Won’t Go Away” - Faye Webster

The pacing of this song is just perfect to me. Similar to "The Con," I’m not sure if it was an intentional influence, but I sometimes fear writing a song with the slow chorus (that may not be the best way to describe it) and this is one of my favorites in the way it allows you to float through without feeling emotionally muted. — Mel

Flowerbomb's Blueprint Playlist

"Diving Woman" - Japanese Breakfast

This song was a big reference for the types of sounds and vibes we were hoping to explore on this EP. There’s something so special about pop sensibilities existing within a song that doesn’t adhere to the typical pop song structure. I was very inspired by Michelle Zauner’s storytelling and use of repetition during the writing of "I Always Knew."

"Drown" - Microwave

We spent a lot of time listening to Microwave around the time we were writing songs for the split. We were playing around with different tunings and Dan brought something to the table that felt very reminiscent of Drown. Although the end product shaped into something that feels authentically Flowerbomb, in the early stages of writing we would lovingly refer to it as “The Microwave song.” That song would end up becoming "Nothing To Do With Me."

"Chosen to Deserve" - Wednesday

When Pretty Bitter and Flowerbomb got together for the first time to write our collab track, we discussed doing something a little bit more alt-country, since both bands enjoy listening to it, but it’s not a genre we often write in. Early on in the writing process, Chosen to Deserve by Wednesday came up as an example of an alt-country song that combines all the genre-blending elements we love.

"Something Sweet" - Mansions

Mansions was the catalyst for us to experiment with writing in open tunings. "Something Sweet" by Mansions is a stellar example of the unique melodies that jump out when utilizing the open D tuning that both of our songs are in. I think you’ll find that Mansions-esque melodies show up all over the Flowerbomb side of the split.

"Easy on Your Own" - Alvvays

The whole Blue Rev record by Alvvays is outstanding, but this song is one of the ones that stands out most to me. All four of us tend to have somewhat different influences (with some overlap), but this is one of the only records in the past few years that has become an influence across the board. Alvvays guitar tones are always stellar and I would be remiss if I did not include a song from this record as a big influence for the tones we gravitated towards on the split.

Thank you Pretty Bitter and Flowerbomb! Get into their split here. Here's Pretty Bitter's link aggregation. Here's Flowerbomb's link aggregation.

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