This is the debut record from a young Atlanta quartet. A new local band. I so rarely get out to shows these days and i am sure that there is a new crop of Atlanta bands that i haven't even heard of, and apparently Blis. are part of the latest crop.
And yes, the period is in the band name, making for typographical weirdness on the part of anyone who writes about the band. MS Word is not happy with me typing "Blis." in the middle of a sentence. Why won't these bands think of us poor music writers when they decide on difficult punctuation?
Anyway, this is pretty cool. I hear math rock and indie pop and even a touch of metal all blurred up together.
The first thing that i notice in Floating Somewhere High And Above is that the voice is choked, hesitating, reminding me of Susie Smillie from Olympic Swimmers. There is an odd rhythm to the voice, and some syllables sound a little swallowed. Anyway, shortly after the voice starts, the band comes in like Weezer on their debut record, just a powerful hit of crunchy power chords, and i almost expect the next line to be "I'm carrying the wheel"! Anyway, the guitars chug and the rhythm really pounds, and the vocalist screams on the chorus. This is a good rocker.
On Savannah the guitar chimes, one layer high and pitched over that choked voice. The rhythm is solid, pounding along while the guitars meander around.
Stationary Life is a slow starter, just kind of chiming along for a while before the band amp it up. The guitars pop in a way that reminds me of Rodan, a kind of math rock tone that punctuates the song. I like the backing vocals eerie and way in the background. This song gets really busy towards the end...
On You Can Tell A Lot they channel Maps and Atlases. The song meanders in a jerky start stop rhythm with guitars going all over the place. It grows into a really epic tune, the vocalist screaming away.
I am impressed. I need to track these guys down some weekend night when they are opening a show at The EARL. |
