See also: Unisex / The Bank Of England
A Colourful Storm first revisited the three Blueboy records in 2018 and 2019 (The Bank of England first, presumably as it was the only one to have never made it to vinyl before, with the first two then arriving the following year), and I presume they've circled back now off the back of the success of the singles collection issued last year. Great news if you missed them first and second time around, but better still because it's another chance to talk about a band who I don't think have truly ever had their flowers. Well, 'shoegaze' is back apparently and some of the more angsty areas of TikTok do seem to favour the kind of melancholic introspection that Blueboy had a firm grasp of, so who knows, perhaps this is the time? Aside from a few stabs at ill-advised Britpop-informed genre exercises (no shade - everyone had bills to pay, and probably still do in all likelihood), these are just great heart-on-the-sleeve post-teen confessionals that trace a uniquely fragile line through indiepop, dreampop and shoegaze, very well suited to those first forays into complexities of infatuation. The pun of the title Unisex is a good indicator as to just what experiences these songs were addressing, while also revealing of a sly humour existent under the lovelorn sincerity. Nowhere near as big as The Smiths nor as cultishly adored as Felt, but Blueboy nonetheless remain a beguiling extension of the English romanticism lineage that may have once been out of time but now starts to feel kind of timeless. Sarah Records had many great singles - these might be their best albums.
