Dabbles In Bloom

First album released by Whitman student band, Dabbles in Bloom
Home
News
Tuesday, Jul 27, 2010

From left to right: Adriel Borshansky, Rimmy Doowa, Robby Seager, Jonas Myers. Photos courtesy of Dabbles in Bloom.

The popular Whitman College music group, Dabbles in Bloom, has reached a musical milestone with the release of its first album, featuring the combined talents of band members Adriel Borshansky ’12, Rimmy Doowa ’12, Robby Seager ’13 and Jonas Myers ’13. The album, titled, “Found It,” includes 11 original songs from the “jazz-influenced, indie-pop” band, and is now available for purchase from the iTunes Store, Amazon.com and other online music retailers.


Listen to a track from the CD
“Greetings”

The band’s new release, which features original cover art by Markel Uiru ’11, celebrates the fruitful collaboration of four Whittie musicians — and friends — who truly enjoy creating together. Though Borshansky and Doowa have collaborated musically for more than two years, Seager and Myers joined the group less than six months ago, quickly adding their own layers to the band’s unique, quirky style. “It’s been less than a year, but it feels like we’ve been playing together forever. We all just clicked right away,” Borshansky said.

Borshansky, a Ridgewood, N.J., native who plans to major in religion, is the band’s lead singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional piano player. Doowa, an economics major from Bangkok, Thailand, sings, develops musical concepts and plays several unique Indian and Thai instruments. On piano, keyboards and occasional bass is Myers, hailing from the Seattle area, who is still determining his major. Also from the Seattle area is Seager, the band’s drummer, who plans to study economics and mathematics.

“I chose Whitman College because of the amazingly diverse, inspired and energetic student body. I joined the band for the same reasons,” Seager said. “Adriel, Rimmy and Jonas all have such compelling, creative energy – and our different backgrounds complement each other musically and personally.

“Practicing with Dabbles in Bloom is similar to Whitman academics: One moment you're enjoying life to the fullest, and the next you realize that the whole time you've actually been getting things accomplished, too!”


In short order, these bright young musicians have swiftly carved out a place in Whitman’s entertainment scene, playing lively concerts at a number of the college’s fraternities and interest house gatherings last year. Though Borshansky will study abroad in Nepal this fall, he said the band will continue making music while he’s away.

“Dabbles in Bloom will definitely storm the campus when I get back this spring,” he said, referring to future concerts, including a large show the band hopes to play in the Reid Campus Center’s Young Ballroom.

While this is the first recorded album for the group, in 2009, Borshansky, with creative support from Doowa, had the opportunity to write and record a solo song for award-winning filmmaker Dana H. Glazer. Borshansky was commissioned to create a song for the soundtrack of “Evolution of Dad,” Glazer’s feature documentary, released in May 2010, about the changing role of fatherhood.

“It was an interesting experience for me,” Borshansky said. “Especially because I had never been asked to write a song for a specific subject, let alone something I couldn’t really relate to.”

The song, titled, “I Stepped Down,” was featured in the film and released in April as Borshansky’s first single. The track also appears on “Found It.”

While Dabbles in Bloom enjoy a growing following of fans, the members work to enjoy their time performing together without putting too much pressure on the future of the band.

“Who knows what will happen? There are infinite directions for us,” Borshansky said. “We’re just waiting to see what happens, and we’re letting our listeners determine that for us.”

- Whitman News

So, a group of college kids form a band. Sound familiar? Yeah, it happens at every campus around the world. Over the last four or five years, some of these college bands have turned into some impressive acts, and on the other hand, there have also been some absolute disasters. Three of my favorite we-formed-in-college bands - Vampire Weekend (Columbia), Ra Ra Riot (Syracuse), and Los Campesinos! (Cardiff University) - now have to make room for a fourth ... Dabbles in Bloom go to Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and they're good. Really good. The band released their self-released debut album, Found It, on July 15. Singer Adriel Borshansky sounds a little like a mix between Ra Ra Riot's Wes Miles and Death Cab's Ben Gibbard. Bandmate Rimmy Doowa occasionally teams up with Borshansky, and the strength of her voice lies in the high notes, which she hits with perfection. Drummer Robby Seager and Jonas Myers (piano, keyboards, and when it calls for it, the bass guitar) put the finishing touches on this indie-pop, folksy, jazz-inspired band. Definitely worth a listen.
- Tranzmission

Happy songs, island rhythms and inflections from the Iberian peninsula; this and much more one will discover on “Found It.” Most of the tunes are fairly simple in composition and the poppier/peppier tunes are the not the strongest—to these ears—both in vox and structure. Oh, but don’t misunderstand, these folks have a gift they have unleashed. The songs that grip me and cause me to smile are the slower numbers, best typified in Found It and Wrong. These are gentle yet with a lyrical force that draws me in and holds me under. Would that all the songs were such as these; but where would the mix and diversity be of this disc? I hope these musicians continue their course (and courses) and bring more of these quieter romances to their adoring fans; and yes, throw in the grander numbers here-and-there.

http://dabblesinbloom.com/
- Heroes of Indie Music

I like to think that I enjoy a wide range of musical varieties. But when I'm honest, I have to admit that I don't like all kinds of music. Nu-metal and death-metal have never been my thing, for example. The kind of rap/dance/pop typified by Black-eyed Peas leaves me cold. But to really lay bare my shortcomings in well-roundedness, I have to admit I'm not a big fan of one whole genre - jazz.

That's not to say I don't appreciate, say, Miles Davis. I do, and I even own a couple of records. And there are many pop/rock acts exhibiting jazz influences that have hooked me over the years, from Steely Dan to latter day Talk Talk. But my ignorance and appreciation of jazz have largely remained the same for years and years.

So when I received a submission from Walla Walla's Dabbles in Bloom describing the band as a "young indie-pop band with jazz influences", I wasn't sure what to expect. I read the bio, which includes one band member who confesses:
"As do most typical college students, I enjoy absurd amounts of irony and repeating overly-used slang phrases that will cease to be popular long before I will cease to say them."

Okay, so at least there's some sense of humour there. Then I listened to the music. Most tracks on the new album Found It don't display overt jazz tendencies to me, maybe less so than Vampire Weekend's afro-pop tendencies. Some songs remind me of The Beautiful South with their male and female vocal interplay, but without the biting edge. Faint echoes of folk-rock (say, for example, mellow tones of Nick Drake) slip in now and again, such as in the beginning of Greetings.


There's a fair amount of sunny pop on this record, joyous singing and happy handclaps. Like on this one, Eclipse.
- Scruffy the Yak

What started out as two students playing a just-for-kicks concert together in Whitman’s amphitheater has now grown to a four-member, blogosphere-touted indie group with an album, iTunes availability and tentative tour plans.

Juniors Adriel Borshansky and Rimmy Doowa and sophomores Robby Seager and Jonas Myers recorded Dabbles in Bloom’s first album “Found It” last year. It was released in July 2010, right before Borshansky went abroad for a semester.

“I remember those cold nights biking past the penitentiary down the road to the studio—super sketch—but somehow I didn’t care. We just wanted something solid … [to] keep us going,” said Doowa on recording the album.

The band, whose style music blog Stereotyped Life described as “whisper rock”, sees itself as a lighthearted creative body.

“It’s fun, friendly indie rock with a little bit of jazz,” says Seager.

“[We’re] jazz-influenced, even if it’s not explicit in all the songs,” said Borshansky.

“And we also don’t have explicit songs,” added Myers, showing the characteristic humor and fun-loving side of Dabbles in Bloom.”It’s music you’ll never be sad while you’re listening to.”

The band’s style is driven largely by the lilting, original songwriting of Borshansky.

“Writing music has always been really meaningful for me, something that I value and … I feel like when we’re together as a group we can create new things that us individually wouldn’t be able to do,” he said.

Doowa, female vocals and sundry percussion, does it because she enjoys singing.

“I’m a creative person, but I’ve never been able to really show it much. What Adriel does is he plays the guitar [and] says, ‘Just sing whatever you feel like singing.’ … [and] good things come out of it,” said Doowa.

Seager, the band’s drummer and a former math and economics major, decided to take this semester off to focus on music.

“I wanted to have as much time as possible to work not only on this band but all kinds of other musical things … and I’m probably going to be a music major and work on that now,” he said.

Myers plays keys and bass guitar for the group, and was introduced to the band in a dining hall on campus.

“Dabbles in Bloom is something I just kind of stumbled into … at the beginning of spring semester of my freshman year,” said Myers. “We just started jamming and 12 months later we had an album.”


Credit: Kendra Klag

With a website, a music video and numerous blog mentions under its belt, the band looks forward to nicer weather and new projects, including a major music video project to its song “Limb of Novelty” that is set to finish this semester.

Dabbles is also working on new music and plans to be doing numerous small events around campus when things warm up. They have Reid Ballroom booked on April 21 and are in the process of planning a big show for that date. They are also currently in the process of obtaining a manager to handle the administrative end of things.

The band also has a message to Whitman students: “Keep making art.”

“Part of the reason that I’m so excited about being in this group is that it’s all-student,” said Borshansky.

Dabbles in Bloom only further proves what comes out of Whitman when students create. - Whitman Pioneer

Dabbles in Bloom are a fresh young band out of Washington state. I describe their music as whisper rock. An indie trend where bands have a soft edge but not over-produced so they don’t lose their indie cred. These kids have a very long journey ahead of them. If this is what they are producing from their first album then I can’t wait to see what else they put out there in the future. They blend male and female vocals harmoniously and thoughtfully. Check them out below and if you like them you can download them here. - Stereotyped Life

Just discovered a delightful young band called Dabbles In Bloom that is filled with 4 young musicians from Whitman College which is located in Walla Walla, Washington.

They just released their debut album Found It, and there are some really nice songs featured on it. With a light rock based sound, there is plenty of beauty to take away from their songs. The main focus is on quality song writing and music that is based upon human feelings.

You wouldn’t know that these were college kids from listening to their songs, they sound far from amateur. I’m really impressed. Hey Whitman College, you should be proud of Dabbles In Bloom, you have a real quality band at your hands.

Check out some of my favorite songs from their album (which you can stream at soundcloud) - We All Want Someone To Shout For

Dabbles In Bloom are a super young band, and it shows through their music, but only in the best of ways. They’re a group of musicians out of Washington (state) who define “cute” indie pop, with jangly instrumentation and back and forth male-female vocals. Perfectly suited for kids’ commercials or a cut of any Michael Cera movie, Dabbles In Bloom are certainly embarking on a journey toward the top of indie stardom.

A little added maturity in the music can’t hurt in the future, but these folks thrive off their youthful exuberance, as is apparent from their recently released debut album, Found It. (Not to mention their website photos.) Check out a couple of the songs below, then consider purchasing Found It on iTunes. - Knox Road