With a name which aptly describes both the project’s process and sound, Thought Bubble create blissful dreamscapes with hand-built electronica, analogue percussion and voice. Originating from the space rock festival scene as members of Glowpeople, Thought Bubble’s duo founders are keyboardist Chris Cordwell and percussionist Nick Raybould.
Since 2020 they have released a number of EP’s and five albums, including Beguiled which found a home on Moolakii Club Audio Interface in 2023, where transcendental and inventive electronics ride along motorik grooves. While Weaving, released the same year on Woodford Halse, brought together a varied collection of cosmic textures and wandering rhythms – from down-tempo chillwave to psychedelic electro odysseys.
Thought Bubble proudly state they have no set style or genre; the music comes out in whatever form it wants. So although experimental electronics is at the heart of their sound, Thought Bubble drift into several connecting sonic territories including krautrock, post-jazz jams, luscious synth symphonies and atmospheric ambience.
Appearing on the MEANS compilation album Living Within Our Means Vol 2, ‘Response’ is a track which showcases Thought Bubble’s multi-layered and melodic soundscapes. Sharing a DNA which is both organic and processed, one where bubbling electronic textures unite with crisp, driving percussion, this mini-epic grooves and soars through multi-part sections featuring arpeggiated and bubbling synths, a soft rock guitar solo, and pulsing rhythms which induces a trance so mesmerising the near six-minute runtime flies by.
Response is a glittering showcase of world-building and painting an otherworldly landscape with sound. A place where the listener gets gently pushed and pulled between musical phrases – mirroring how the rhythms and electronics call and respond to one another while partaking on a tour across interstellar terrain. So strap yourself in, enjoy the journey and discover what words may appear within your own thought bubble while listening.
With work already well on the way for album number six (now as a trio), Thought Bubble are gearing up to continue their journey across a tranquil and shifting galaxy, where the ominous combines with the glorious, the eerie with the sublime.
You can support Thought Bubble on Bandcamp and keep up to date with news by following the band onInstagram and Facebook.
Ryan Hooper
MEANS 