Album: Blue Stoplights – Bouquet

“Bouquet is a collection of alt-country/indie rock songs in the vein of contemporaries like Hovvdy and Alex G. Many of the songs on Bouquet are about remaining hopeful during times of uncertainty. The album was recorded at our homes in Chicago, IL over the past few years.”

It is a bummer this album is not picked up by some label (I released more than I planned this year) because this album is such a great gem and I love how joyful it was to listen to it.

I really loved the first single from this album called Fistful, but the full album is so amazing.

Another hidden gem you will not read about on any big music website, but it could be there for sure.

Lo-fi-folky-slackery-indie rock songs with a nice atmosphere and great energy. They are also sprinkled with some great alt-country guitars and I love that direction a lot. The first listen of the album was very very amazing and I recommend you to listen to it from the first song to the last. As we always recommend doing. What a great album this is. I will revisit it again because it deserves more time for full absorption.

If you would stop me on the street and ask me what album you would recommend to check out this month that probably not many people heard, I would gladly name this one.

It is really hard to pick a favorite track from this album, but you will never go wrong with the first track Fistful.

I have reached out to the band and asked them our 3 Qs. Robby answered:

What inspired you to start making music and what keeps you making music?

We were first inspired to make music together when we were kids. Conor and I (Robby) have been friends for almost 20 years and our musical interests have followed a similar path, from classic/alternative rock to jazz to contemporary indie rock. We’ve been playing music together in some way for almost as long as we’ve been friends and that’s always been driven by our shared interests and our friendship. Even though we met Dean more recently, that friendship has been similar. We immediately bonded over music in college and started writing and playing songs together. With that in mind, we wouldn’t still be doing this if we weren’t such good friends. That comes before the music, and it always has.

What was the most challenging thing in your music (artistic) path?

Recently, the biggest challenge has been finding the time to play together between our jobs and living in different states. Conor lives in Minneapolis and Dean and I are in Chicago, so we see each other in person infrequently. We recorded most of Bouquet together in person before the pandemic made our meetings even more infrequent, but the whole operation was pretty DIY, and everyone involved has been in grad school or working full-time, so it took a bit longer than we anticipated to finish recording, mixing, and mastering.

What would you dream to do if anything was possible?

With the last answer in mind, the three of us would ideally live in the same area. We would also have the time and space to play together regularly, and we’d love to do more local shows and regional tours. Overall, I think our goals are pretty attainable. It all comes down to making music based on our close friendships with each other and spreading that energy to anyone who is receptive to it.

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