| Bloom | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Billy Pilgrim |
| Cover: | Bloom (Billy Pilgrim album).jpg |
| Released: | 1995 |
| Studio: | Treasure Isle |
| Label: | Atlantic[1] |
| Producer: | Richard Dodd |
| Prev Title: | Billy Pilgrim |
| Prev Year: | 1994 |
| Next Title: | Live from Wildhack, MT |
| Next Year: | 1999 |
Bloom is the second album by the American musical duo Billy Pilgrim, released in 1995.[2] [3] The duo was dropped by Atlantic Records the following year.[4] [5]
The album peaked at No. 37 on Billboards Heatseekers Albums chart.[6] The first single was "Sweet Louisiana Sound", which was a minor radio hit.[7] [8] The duo promoted the album by playing shows with Blessid Union of Souls and labelmate Mary Karlzen, among others.[9] [10]
The album was produced by Richard Dodd. It was recorded at Treasure Isle Studios, in Nashville.[11] The backing band included Mike Campbell, Sonny Landreth, and Garry Tallent.[12]
The Vancouver Sun wrote that "Sweet Louisiana Sound" "is an upbeat four-four kicker with a hint of a bayou twang that resists the duo's propensity for overly earnest, over-simplified, folk pop."[13] The Columbus Dispatch called the album "better in almost every way than the group's self-titled debut: catchier, tougher when need be, lyrically more compelling."[14]
The San Diego Union-Tribune determined that "the soaring vocal harmonies of Andrew Hyra and Kristian Bush and jamming rhythm guitars can invoke Don Henley and the Eagles."[15] The Record deemed the album "outstanding," writing that "Billy Pilgrim makes folk-based pop music the way it was meant to be made."[16] The Daily Herald concluded that Bloom "places the group somewhere between the jangly guitar-rock sound of the Gin Blossoms and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the more countrified 'heartland rock' approach of the Jayhawks, Wilco and the BoDeans."[17]
AllMusic wrote that, "although sonically consistent and clean, the overall feel of the album is a bit sterile, a tad slick, a touch predictable."