Album Reviews

- by Tom Dumarey

Yay! Another post-punk band. Sorry, that didn’t sound very enthusiastic. It’s just that there are so many new post-punk bands popping up left, right and center and most of them sound the same. So it keeps getting harder and harder to whip up any kind of enthusiasm. That said, there are always exceptions and well, Brooklyn’s Big Bliss happens to be one of them.

Comprised of brothers Tim (guitar, vocals) and Cory Race (drums) with the addition of Wallace May (bass, vocals), Big Bliss excel at writing the kind of post-punk songs that shimmer and shine while still packing plenty of energy. They aren’t reinventing the genre on their debut LP, ‘At Middle Distance’. But for a genre known for its coldness, these ten songs feel surprisingly warm thanks to May’s basslines, jangly guitars and strong melodies while the propulsive drums have no problem of driving every single song home.

With songs like opener ‘Constants’, single ‘Duplicate’ and ‘High Ideal’, Big Bliss seemingly effortlessly show what they are capable of and end up sounding not unlike a cross of Editors and 80ies legends The Church.

Track listing:

1. Constants    
2. Fortune    
3. Surface    
4. Duplicate    
5. High Ideal    
6. Answer    
7. Richard Race    
8. Content Saves    
9. Conscious Being    
10. RTK