First of all, it’s pronounced ‘bedroom’. Jordan Smith, bass player and vocalist for Hull-based shoegaze revivalists Bdrmm, laughs as he recounts the various mispronunciations to which the four-piece has been subjected since breaking through with a 2020 debut LP called (you’ve guessed it) Bedroom. ‘Someone thought we were a ska band called Bad Riddim. That was one of the best ones.’ 

The group is all set for Edinburgh Psych Fest: with a strong element of hypnotic krautrock in their sound (think Neu!, Can, Kraftwerk) they certainly fit the bill. But Bdrmm are channelling a kaleidoscope of influences on top of that, from Ministry Of Sound trance to free jazz and grunge, not to mention the golden-era shoegaze with which they’re most readily associated: Slowdive, Pygmalion, The Jesus And Mary Chain, and sometime tour mates Ride. 

It all started, suitably enough, in a bedroom; specifically that of Jordan’s older brother Ryan. ‘He recorded the first two EPs on his iPhone and uploaded a couple of tracks to the BBC Introducing site. A couple got played on Radio 1 so he thought there was something in it. That’s when I got involved. I was doing my A-Levels at the time. Ryan texted me in an English class saying, “do you want to play bass in this band?”’ Joe Vickers (guitar and bass) and Conor Murray (drums) were recruited shortly afterwards.

The group saw an example, Jordan says, in the many ‘bedroom pop’ projects that had broken through over the past decade or so, since the advent of cheap, portable, high-quality recording gear obviated the need for long sweaty nights in practice rooms and endless touring in order to get noticed. Signing to well-regarded one-man label Sonic Cathedral in 2019, they released a debut album the following year, mining a gamut of influences in a heart-on-sleeve fashion while capturing the dream-pop zeitgeist of the day. 

After rave reviews, various majors started circling. But the group felt the threat of creative control slipping away. Into the breach stepped post-rock stalwarts Mogwai, who offered a spot on their ethically driven label Rock Action after choosing Bdrmm as tour support in 2022. ‘There’s a reason that group is so well thought of in the industry. The way they treated everyone involved on that tour was amazing; and we became such good friends that they decided to sign us, which has been a fairytale. We’re still really naïve about how the music industry works, but the people at that label have our best interests at heart, and want to keep us at the centre of things creatively.’

The first fruits of that Rock Action adventure can be tasted on sophomore effort I Don’t Know, released earlier this year: a trancier, dancier proposition than its predecessor. Opener ‘Alps’ nods to Aphex Twin with its woozy electronic drumbeats, before a treble-heavy bassline reminiscent of In Rainbows-era Radiohead takes over. With its Thom Yorke-ish lyrics on consumer-age paranoia (‘meaningless distractions / no place to run away / the shadows standing tall / surrounded by despair’), it sets the tone for a record that is as lyrically earnest as it is musically omnivorous, covering themes from romantic break-up to mental-health struggles, while shifting from EDM to MBV at the shiver of a cymbal.

Bdrmm are working on a new album and have a European tour coming up in the autumn, followed by a trek around the UK. They’re all still working at day-jobs and courses (the same technology that gave them their break is making it hard for groups to stay afloat, even with 320,000 Spotify followers) but the future is rosy. ‘To have that many people listening to our music, to see the same people coming to shows over and over again . . . that’s what makes it worth it.’ 

Bdrmm play Edinburgh Psych Fest, Summerhall, Sunday 3 September.