Bloom guide us track by track through their new album ‘The Light We Chase’ which is out now via Pure Noise Records.
Belrose
We wanted Belrose to open the album in the same spirit that An Entry did on Maybe In Another Life. On the first record, the line was “step into my state of mind”; this time, it’s “walk back with me.” Both feel like invitations, like opening the door and letting someone into your world. I’ve always loved how The 1975 start their albums with a song called The 1975, a kind of meta introduction that sets the tone for what’s to come.
The lyric “walk back with me and I’ll show you everything” felt like the perfect way to say, I’m going to take you somewhere that means a lot to me. The song is full of real places from our childhood – the mulberry tree I used to pass walking home from school, the cemetery, the power station. There’s something powerful about name-dropping those details. It grounds the nostalgia. It’s a nod to where we came from, and a way to start this album by walking back through the past.
Forget Me Not
The first thing that comes to mind with Forget Me Not is the ending. We wanted something unpredictable and unexpected from us. When we got to writing the last breakdown, Sam just said, “let me cook for a second,” and started dragging things around in the drum mapping until it sounded completely wild. It was chaotic, but it worked. We refined it back from there, but it felt like a very fresh and new way of songwriting and really makes the song hit.
We also spent way too long trying to find the perfect “jump tempo.” We literally stood in the studio, jumping in place, testing different BPMs to figure out the exact speed that we needed to get the best jump performance. We haven’t played it live yet though so that will be the true test.
Out Of Reach
Out Of Reach started with this image of a massive, stadium-sized opening, something that would feel at home in an arena. It has that same kind of anthemic build as Pittsburgh by The Amity Affliction, though it takes its own path after that. I wanted the kind of intro where I could sing the first line, hold the mic out, and hear thousands of voices take over.
It’s also the first song where I take lead on the clean vocals in the chorus. I’ve done parts here and there before, but never fully stepped into that role. Sam heard me try a scratch take and just said, “that’s staying on the record.” I think it’s just another way we wanted to change things up and experiment in ways we hadn’t before and it’s been cool to see the response from people after releasing it as a single.
Keep You (Feat. Patrick Miranda)
This one’s special. Keep You feels like a very different style of song for us, but we love how it came together and still fits the Bloom sound. It started as a track called Daylily that Oli wrote, and from the start we knew we wanted Patrick Miranda on it. The song has this nostalgic early-2000s Australian rock feel, it’s looser, groovier, and less dense than what we usually do, but still very much us.
It’s also the first time all three of us – me, Oli, and Jarod – share vocal duties on a track. When we first played it live in Sydney, hearing our voices blend together felt so awesome. And with Pat’s part layered in, it became something truly special. It’s probably one of the simplest songs we’ve ever written, but that’s what makes it powerful.
Glen Street
Glen Street is named after a real place in Belrose, a theatre there where we used to do school productions. Overall the song is about revisiting a place and having all the memories flood back and hit you all at once. Also probably has the coolest lyric on the record – “I’ll visit you in your home in my head”. Banger.
Musically, it’s the track that feels most like our early writing. Big opening, quiet drop, and then that emotional swell at the end. It’s got that classic Bloom melodic hardcore energy, and it’s probably the closest link between who we were and who we are now.
Life Moves On Without Us
This one was a real puzzle. It started as two separate demos – one from Jarod, one from Oli – and we stitched them together until something felt like the best version of both. It took ages to make it flow properly, and we kept cutting and reordering until it finally clicked. By the time we finished it, it had gone from one of our weakest tracks to one of our favourites.
It probably took the longest to come together but it was worth dedicating the time to it as we knew it was a great song, we just needed to give it a lot of brain power to get it to where we wanted it to be.
Act II (Feat. Jack Bergin)
Act II is exactly what the title suggests – a continuation. It’s a direct nod to Sink Into The Soil from our earlier work. The riffs, the flow of the song, even the feeling behind it all reference that song, but through the lens of who we are now.
There are multiple meanings baked into it. It’s “Act II” because it opens the second half of the record, it ties into the theatre imagery that runs through the album, and it’s literally the second act to a song we released years ago. It bridges the old and the new, showing how much we’ve grown while still acknowledging where we began.
Having Jack come in at the end of the song as well is awesome as hell. He’s a close friend of ours and it made so much sense to get him on a track, and he smashed his part.
Withered
Withered might be the most honest song we’ve ever written. It’s about what it really means to be in a band – the strain it puts on your relationships, your mental health, your finances, your time. We’ve been doing this for eight years, and while we’re incredibly grateful, it’s hard not to feel the weight of it sometimes.
We wanted to capture the tension in the love for what we do and the exhaustion that comes with it. The closing line, “Withered me, never bloomed / Withered life, dead for you,” is probably one of the rawest moments on the album. It’s the fear that you can give everything to something you love, and still lose parts of yourself in the process.
Only Sky
This song started life as a poem that was, admittedly, way too obsessed with trains. The original opening line was literally “I’m waiting for a train,” which didn’t last long. We got a good roasting from Sammy about that one. But underneath that, the song was always about isolation and reflection.
It ended up being an emotional companion to Carve Yourself Into My Lungs from Maybe In Another Life. Where that song was a dialogue between two people, Only Sky is a monologue – one voice, completely alone. It’s slow, atmospheric, and deeply metaphorical. The imagery feels dreamlike, like floating through a memory you can’t quite place.
Tongue Tied (Feat. Mikaila Delgado)
This one came out of nowhere. Jarod sent through a Dropbox of ideas before we started the album, and one file just said Praying. None of us had heard it. The first time we pressed play, it was this stunning acoustic track, and we all just looked at each other like, well… that’s going on the record.
It didn’t matter that it didn’t sound like a typical Bloom song. It was too good to ignore. Bringing Mikaila in elevated it even more. Her voice added this new emotional dimension that made the song feel even sadder. It’s gentle, unexpected, and a really fun curveball for the album.
Show Me Who I Am
Album closers are always tricky for us. They have to feel like an ending without overexplaining it. Show Me Who I Am came together naturally and immediately felt like the final chapter. It’s built on simplicity, both musically and lyrically. It says exactly what it needs to and nothing more.
It also mirrors Belrose in a way. The opener says, “walk back with me,” while this one is about asking someone else to help you move forward, handing over that responsibility, learning to trust and accept support.
We even debated whether the lyric “one day I’ll just breathe” was too corny, but it stayed because it sums up the whole record. There’s anxiety, reflection, hope, and the quiet wish that someday things will just… ease. That one day, you’ll finally breathe.
