Amsterdam’s Pip Blom – named after band’s lead singer and co-composer – returns with Grip, a transformative EP marking their first independent release.
Having flirted with a synthpop sound on their most recent album, 2023’s Bobbie, Grip marks a deep and vibrant exploration into technicolour sound. As lead singer, Blom sums up in relation to the title, difficulties regarding her private life presented the need for “some kind of grip…something to hold on to.”
Opening track ‘Temporary Love’ wastes no time emitting an array of sonic colours, the frustrations of an ended relationship present its emotional undercurrent as anything but melancholic, but without a forthright matter-of-factness devoid of feeling.
‘Upside Down’ could genuinely be a disco banger, mixing the house-friendly bass and tom-toms with the lighter side of Goldfrapp before they actually had a lighter side.
The tempo shifts with track three, ‘Drift’, an atmospheric exploration which maintains Blom and the band’s overarching theme of “love”, in this case, the cycle of conflict between self-love and love towards others, particularly compounded when a relationship ends.
Lead single ‘Ring’ lifts the BPM once again, a ‘Call Me’ for 2025, Blom knowingly taking us on an emotional rollercoaster. “Show me that you care…I need to feel it!” displays directness and urgency, as though demonstrations of love will suffice in filling whatever vacuum we have in our lives regarding our own self-worth.
Closer ‘Someday’ is perhaps the closest link to the guitar-based indie-rock of Pip Blom’s previous albums, but these purely complement the relentless bass-synth combo, and at over six minutes, it isn’t going to seamlessly shift into radio-friendliness. “I know I sound dramatic, but I can’t move on!” continues the cards-on-the-table directness. Repetition of the word “love!” in the extended outro reiterates this overarching theme, without necessarily offering solutions, answers to the questions we have about the best ways to love ourselves, let alone others.
And that’s the point, really. None of us know, and while the title alludes to the at-times futile efforts in holding on to something unsustainable, the EP demonstrates the band’s unquestionable love for their artistic and sonic endeavours, demonstrated in their collaborations with mixer Ludwig A.F.
Pip Blom
Website / Bandcamp / Instagram
Live Dates
Club Grip Netherlands
26th of June – Tilburg / Hall of Fame – w/ Borokov Borokov
27th of June – Leeuwarden / Beatriks – w/ Gonzo Bimbo
28th of June – Amsterdam/Toekomstmuziek – w/ Ineffekt
6th July – Wilde Weide
Club Grip UK
23rd July – Strange Brew, Bristol w/ Mount Palomar
24th July – White Hotel, Manchester w/ Mount Palomar
25th July – Corsica Studios, London w/ Mount Palomar
26th July – Lazy Days Festival, Southend