Bloom Forever

The S.C.U.M. singer’s rootsy solo debut refuses to be overwhelmed by tragedy. After leaving the London art-rockers, Thomas Cohen wrote his first solo album during a three-year period that included the death of his wife Peaches Geldof. Even though the grief on the meditative “Country Home” and “Mother Mary” is searingly raw, Bloom Forever is not a despairing record. As Cohen contemplates the whole hand that life has dealt him, his warmly layered take on Americana gets a piquant twist of classic British pop via his lightly mannered vocal and the optimistic hook of “New Morning Comes”.