B-Side Guys

Released just hours ago, Alex Bloom’s latest single “First Time” pulls off a rare feat: documenting its own metamorphosis. What begins as intimate bedroom pop, captured through a laptop microphone in a New York City attic, blossoms into full studio orchestration – and the transition feels as natural as the cross-country flight that inspired it.

As the opening track of his upcoming album “Across the Country,” “First Time” establishes both geographical and emotional coordinates. The initial lo-fi segment wraps around lyrics that float like passing clouds: “coming up hot / moving slow / catching a train / watching the clouds / roll by.” These words, delivered with delicate precision, mirror the weightless feeling of leaving Los Angeles behind.

The production’s evolution from bedroom intimacy to studio expansiveness perfectly mirrors the song’s themes of transformation and possibility. When Bloom repeatedly asks “what is it like / the first time?” it carries multiple meanings – the first time leaving home, the first time starting over, the first time fully realizing a sound that previously existed only in imagination.

The lyrics paint time as fluid, with lines like “where did we leave off / in a past life?” suggesting connections that transcend simple geography. This theme builds throughout the track, culminating in the mantra-like repetition of “I wanna be your first time,” where desire and memory seem to collapse into a single point.

What makes this approach particularly bold is how it serves as a thesis statement for the album to follow. By allowing listeners to hear both the rawness of the original demo and its fully realized form, Bloom offers unprecedented transparency into his artistic process. The track becomes a bridge not just between cities, but between artistic vision and execution, between what was and what could be.