Treasure Bloom’s EP: Nostalgia, A Frank Ocean-Esque Six-Track Experimental Record
Treasure Bloom EP’s Nostalgia is here. The six-track experimental flushed record draws on influences such as Frank Ocean, resulting in progressive R&B to stripped-down acoustic folk all the way to his musical upbringings in metal.
It’s this unpredictable, sometimes even contradicting nature that makes Treasure Bloom one of the most fascinating new artists in the UK.
His self-produced, bedroom-recorded songs have quickly found themselves featured on many notable blogs, garnering attention from Live Nation’s Ones To Watch, Line of Best Fit, Wonderland Magazine, Gigwise, EARMILK, and multiple stations on the BBC Radio circuit.
Genre blending singer, rapper, and multi-instrumentalist Treasure Bloom has an impressive track record of releases since his 2019 debut. For his new mini-album Nostalgia the artist is formerly known as Treasure metamorphs into Treasure Bloom and teams up Berlin-ba-sed underground boutique label Kommerz Records. Co-owners and brothers Lukas and Jonathan Nixdorff discovered the London-born and Hertfordshire-based creative genius through an artist friend in common, Jay Lewn, and connected through social media months later.
The electronic experimentalist extraordinaire writes and produces all his music in his home studio. His influences range from Frank Ocean-esque progressive R&B to stripped-down acoustic folk all the way to his musical upbringings in metal. It’s this unpredictable, sometimes even contradicting nature that makes Treasure Bloom one of the most fascinating new artists in the UK. Nostalgia is the follow-up to Nostalgia: The Prelude, which came out under his former moniker in 2020. Whilst the latter was still self-released, Kelvin Beyioku decided to take the next step in becoming Treasure Bloom and joining forces with Kommerz Records.
The six-track EP opens with the title song, an acoustic driving ode to friendship as a look in the past, and evolves into a mystic second part describing an imaginary future wedding. On “Feelings, Pt. II,” Treasure Bloom fabricates an intimate almost voyeuristic glimpse into the fragilities of a romantic relationship through his lush vocal performance combined with the instrumental co-produced by Tyler Turner (Juice WRLD, Lil Keed). Meanwhile on the self-care anthem “Stay Safe” he assures to protect himself and his relationships no matter what.
The hard-hitting 808 drums and electronic production sticks out in the middle of the record and marks the energetic climax before “Raison D’être” brings relief. Composed almost completely on the classical guitar, Treasure Bloom uses his arsenal of emotion to ground himself and reflect his relationship on “Grow with Me”. “Stepping Out”, a song Treasure Bloom wrote after meeting an old friend whose newfound aura impressed him, closes the EP:
“Stepping out is the release of all my ghosts. An acknowledgement that we all have the power to set ourselves free.”
Still being at an early stage of his career, he’s already got support and received a lot of love from ‘playlisters’, blogs, and tastemakers alike.