Album Review :: Is Bliss - Strange Communication

Album

Is Bliss

Strange Communication

June 7 2019 (Club AC30)

7/10

Words: Kieran O'Brien

If a particular brand of fuzzy, feedback-laden guitar music is your thing, there is a fair chance you have stumbled across Portsmouth’s Is Bliss in recent years. As well as being something of an omnipresence on psych festival line ups across the country over the last eighteen months, the south coast trio also boast an impressive CV opening for shoegaze royalty such as The Jesus and Mary Chain, Telescopes and Mark Gardener of Ride. With the release of their debut LP ‘Strange Communication’, the band has the opportunity to step out of the shadows of icons gone by and create their own sonic landscape. The result is a sprawling, well-sculpted record that, for the most part, will fit seamlessly into the record collection of any shoegaze enthusiast.

‘Strange Communication’ is bookended by its two finest moments. The opener ‘Belong’ is a sublime track, with Jimmy Stuart’s hypnotic guitar hook making way for a cacophonic chorus of feedback and screamed vocals. Over seven minutes and thirty eight seconds the song ebbs and flows superbly; with an inventive arrangement the band have managed to capture (particularly in the John Squire-esque guitar loaded outro) the complexities of a volatile internal monologue, with all its peaks and troughs and swings between moments of clarity and hazy thinking. Closer ‘Lost Thoughts’ is a starkly different offering to ‘Belong’, but achieves a similar trick of accurately conveying a particular state of mind. Here, Is Bliss are less explosive and more introverted, with Stuart’s hymn-like vocals difficult to decipher beneath a blanket of reverb. The track is repetitive but never boring; the intricacies in both the production and arrangement exhibit a band that have clearly put a lot of thought and time into crafting their sonic world.

There is plenty to enjoy between these two highlights on the record, too. ‘Can’t Sleep Forever’, which is built around similar themes of uncertainty and self-doubt and closes with a Nick McCabe-esque droning guitar hook. while ‘Fall’ goes one step further in emulating The Verve, evoking the sound of the Wigan icons’ debut ‘A Storm In Heaven’ with its circling shoegaze guitars and snarled vocals. A similar formula is applied on ‘What to Believe’, undoubtedly the loudest and most boisterous track on the record.

Conversely, lead single ‘All I See Is You’ opens with a lulling, wistful acoustic guitar, punctured only by Stuart’s imposing vocal and melodic harmonies. Musically this is a fine pop song, progressing (particularly with Sam Speakman’s regimental drumming style) in a way not too dissimilar to Inspiral Carpets’ cult anthem ‘This Is How It Feels’. When songs are stripped back in this way, there will inevitably be more focus on lyrical content. Unfortunately, Is Bliss’ words often fall short of the mark. Whereas the Inspirals’ ‘This Is How It Feels’ starkly and powerfully frames depression in a northern town, Is Bliss’ clunky lines such as ‘you’re always on my mind, like the sun you make me blind’ induce more of a wince than a stir of emotion. The lack of nuanced lyrical content is particularly apparent on the one paced ‘I Tried’, which simply does not stand up quality wise to the rest of the album. If the enthralling ‘Belong’ and ‘Can’t Sleep Forever’ recall Andy Bell’s heady days in Ride, then ‘I Tried’ is reminiscent of his days playing bass on dirge-filled late Oasis records.

Nevertheless, there is far more to be celebrated than scorned on this debut effort from Is Bliss. The sitar kissed ‘Wonder’ gladly falls into the former of these categories; droning backing vocals and inventive instrumentation punctuate a charming mantra that hints at a change in direction for the three-piece on future releases. For the time being however, Is Bliss most certainly fall into the category of psych-tinged shoegaze, and in 'Strange Communication' have released a very promising debut record. If you have enjoyed previous releases from cult shoegaze label Club AC30, then you will most certainly enjoy this.