6/10

Since emerging with their heavily-played self-titled debut album back in 2016, Stockport's indie heroes Blossoms have found themselves as one of the golden children of this country's guitar-pop revival movement. Yet while that first collection firmly established them as hit-makers throughout, their follow-up 'Cool Like You' didn't quite hit the same dizzy heights in both critical and commercial success that they were looking for. So now they are back once again with 'Foolish Loving Spaces', a record that turns to the past for inspiration and makes for a somewhat enjoyable listen.

Despite being able to crack out some absolute gems since their earliest beginnings, their ability to create a strong and cohesive album has always been their weakness, and there still seems to be elements of that on their third LP. While standout singles like 'Your Girlfriend' and 'The Keeper' do much of the heavy lifting, mainly due to their clear influencers like Talking Heads and The Stone Roses, the album quickly loses much of its edge as they begin to sink slowly into their comfortable realm of indie-rock that is ok and sometimes good, but never delivering something on par with those early tracks.

Nevertheless, 'Foolish Loving Spaces' is still a wonderfully broad and interesting listen that you can almost track the inspirations they were looking to emulate throughout. A crisp and clear nod to the late 80s sound that just isn't able to maintain its promising pace and excitement from start to finish.