FVMusicBlog

Photo: Mike Bloom – Maria Taylor 

We are lucky enough to catch up with musician Mike Bloom following the brilliant dream-pop single release, ‘Natural Disaster’. Read the full interview below!

‘Natural Disaster’ is a striking debut. What inspired this particular track to be the one you led with from your vault of unreleased material?

Thank you! Well, I’ve actually been quietly trickling out a few tracks leading up to this one recently, and they’re all meaningful to me… but I wanted to give this track a bit of its own space to occupy for a minute. Perhaps I feel that, with ‘Natural Disaster,’ there’s something a little more instant or representative of much of what’s to come.

Whatever it is, you gotta start somewhere. It’s a bit overwhelming and insomnia-inducing to have a catalogue of work building up and spilling over that only you and your maker hold the secret key to. It feels good to share and finally open it all up.

You’ve spent years elevating other people’s music—from Julian Casablancas to Jenny Lewis. How did it feel to finally step into the spotlight with your own voice and vision?

Well, I’m still feeling it out, to be honest! I very much enjoy working with others and hopefully helping make what they do better… and there’s an obvious freedom in that, in terms of contributing to the identity of another or even what you don’t necessarily have to be responsible for when you lay your head down. But it’s all the same in the sense that you bring your entire heart to the thing and hope for the best.

It’s certainly a more vulnerable feeling to come forward with the work that felt so personal to make, while it’s also nice to lighten the spiritual burden of hiding in the shadows.

My old band, The Elected (with Blake Sennett), was certainly very personal to me, but it had been a long time since I’d put out any work under my own name. I recently sort of dipped one foot in those waters releasing songs under the moniker HAHA, a side project with my good friend Maria Taylor. That was fun and exciting, so I’d been inching ever closer, I suppose.

Dream-pop often evokes a kind of cinematic nostalgia. What mood or imagery were you trying to capture with Natural Disaster?

I don’t know what to call this song or what genre it really lives in, and I certainly don’t ever make music with that stuff in mind, for better or worse. If it slips and falls under the umbrella of dream pop on some level, I’ll take it.

I can definitely relate to the cinematic portion of that question. I think, with so much of what I make, there’s an undercurrent of bittersweet longing. Longing for what? I don’t know. It could be for what was. For what can be, but probably won’t. The distance between what is and the vast realm of possibility.

After so many years behind the scenes, did you feel any resistance—internally or externally—about releasing solo music?

I might’ve already addressed this, but in short, yes. Absolutely. The resistance monster, as the great Steven Pressfield puts it, is ever-present and taunting you to hang up your hat and bury your head in the sand. Or I suppose you could bury the head with the hat on, but either way, you’d be succumbing to the voices of your own insecurity and fear. I certainly accept my share of blame over the years in this regard. But all we have is now.

Can you talk about the process of curating material from your backlog? Was ‘Natural Disaster’ always destined for release, or did it surprise you by rising to the top?

I think I’ve been guilty of compartmentalizing the making of the music, the catharsis of being and doing, and the rather intimidating landscape of sharing the work. As the catalogue kept building over the years and across life experiences, it got more and more overwhelming to conceive of how to begin the process of releasing this stuff.

Ultimately, somewhere in the subconscious realm, I always intended to put this music out in the world. I think it just took a deeper pendulum swing of time and emotion than I expected. I had to get super calculated about how to go about it and commit to a long-term plan to finally get the process going. A totally different hat for me. Thankfully, I’ve had some help from a few key people in my life.

What have you learned from your extensive collaborations that shaped your own songwriting and production?

Everything. Difficult to parse this answer. I can say that there’s profound love, heartbreak, forgiveness, all the things life throws at you that, in the case of doing what we musicians do, are all framed in abstraction. It’s a world where rules don’t really apply, which is what makes it both freeing and maddening. A ton of trial and error shapes your art and sharpens the blade. Incredible experiences and heavy lessons, if we’re listening. Grateful for all my teachers. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Did you approach the recording of ‘Natural Disaster’ differently than the records you’ve worked on for others?

I probably did, in a way I’m not consciously aware of. I mean, it’s always one foot in front of the other. I recorded this one alone (for the most part) and in a frenzy to get it out, like a fever dream or the breaking of it. I had no one to answer to but the fever itself… which can be the most demanding employer of all. I think that Walken line is more prescient or prophetic than it might seem on the surface. The cowbell is the metaphor, and if you’re lucky enough to locate it, it is truly the only prescription for the fever.

As a multi-instrumentalist and producer, you’re used to wearing a lot of hats. What part of the solo creation process felt most freeing—or most challenging?

I did it again with my previous long-winded answers. I am indeed familiar with many of the hats and jumping from one perspective to the other. This can be a very useful skill. It can also be a double-edged sword. I think the most freeing aspect of making music is the very expression itself, having the release valve for what might otherwise be an emotional trapdoor.

The most challenging element for me is definitely what to do with the work when it’s done. This comes very naturally for some. I often feel like..well, I got it out of me, so I’m moving on! But I’m learning, I promise.

There’s a quiet intimacy to the song, but also a lushness in its layers. Can you walk us through some of the sonic choices you made in crafting that atmosphere?

Thank you for saying that. Yes, the hope is that, with whatever production aspects are at play, there is always the heart of a song that still exists if you strip it all away. In this case, I definitely fell for the sonics of a key element or two that drove the writing of the song, actually. That happens sometimes.

I never would have written this song if I’d only had a guitar at my disposal. But with the synth under my fingers, it just rushed out and spoke back to me about all the messy emotional stuff I was going through at the time. I suppose there’s an 80s quality to some of the choices I made for this one. Again, I think it’s just one thing leading to another. There’s a clear nostalgia there for me that is sometimes undeniable.

With this single out, what’s next? Can fans expect more releases soon, or perhaps a full project?

If I can stick to my self-imposed deadline schedule, there is a ton of music to come, yes! Most of it will ultimately be batched into various EPs and full-lengths over the next year or so as more singles come out. I’m an old-school guy, and the format of a record still means something to me. So, there is a rhyme and reason for all these releases, believe it or not.

https://www.mikebloommusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/mikebloommusic/
https://x.com/imikebloom
https://mikebloommusic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/cavesayshi/

FVMusicBlog May 2025

If you would like to submit your music for a playlist or review consideration, please submit here.

Also! Check out the awesome other artists on the ‘Discovered This Week’ Playlist!