Whozyerman: Blink – Contemplative patchwork of bedroom pop

Yer man is Paul Savage, former frontman of Waterford five-piece O Emperor, who took home the Choice prize for best album back in 2019 while simultaneously announcing the band’s split.

In the intervening years, Savage relocated to Bray and spent the pandemic jamming and recording in his bedroom – the view from which comprises the album’s dreamy artwork. As for many of us, there was “nothing except the time to kill” (All the Time to Kill), and Savage killed it by taking walks and “becoming acquainted with the Dart”.

Blink is a patchwork of styles and influences formed over a lifetime; woozy images are anchored in psychedelia, electronica and bedroom pop. Former O Emperor drummer Brendan Fennessy mixes the record, appearing on the quietly propulsive A Step Back, sometimes burying Savage’s vocals in a whirlwind of textures, allowing images to quietly make themselves known.

“Are you still doing the music?” is the repeated refrain of BlurBob, echoing the question “When are the lads going to get the recognition they deserve?” first posed on O Emperor’s Effort, taking on new resonance in this time of uncertainty. Savage calls the writing process “therapeutic meditation”, a way to collage the strange experiences of the pandemic; the restless adjustment.

Blink is a quietly contemplative affair, unbound by convention and joyous in its idiosyncrasies. It’s a stroll through influences such as Animal Collective, Brian Eno and Lemon Jelly, rooted in Savage’s elegant perspectives of a world on pause.