“At the album’s core is “Awake,” a dark and ambient slowburner that really shows just how elastic this guy’s strengths are.”
“[In this album] we find Bliss’s greatest asset: the uncanny knack for making sweeping gestures that can be absorbed with the ease of pop music. It’s the stuff that eventually lands indie bands that rare spot in the mainstream spotlight, and if Bliss can hold out a little longer – as the wisdom of “Big Decisions, Little Things” suggests (“Big decisions / brighter days / they won’t happen right away”) – the long wait should be well worth his trouble.”
“Though instantly absorbing, it’s a welcome change to hear Bliss getting a little more adventurous with his ideas after the album’s introduction. The urgency of “The Last Ride” is made even more immediate by drummer Shareef Taher’s furious pounding and Bliss’s own caterwauling screams. With its astral imagery and delay-enhanced guitar lines, “Captain Collins Navigates from Star to Star” pays homage to both Bowie and U2. Propelled by an aggressive four to the floor thump and chiming piano tones, the song meets somewhere in that sweet spot between arena rock pomposity and sweaty club electronica. “Passerby” may ride the same drumbeat as Green Day’s “Holiday,” but it’s great to hear Bliss and his band reveling in some gritty blues guitar licks.”
Full story at this part of the intertubes
