PREMIERE Bliss Abyss, "Red Disgusting"
Blissed out with Bliss Abyss, from left: Peter Wallner, Josh Unger & Kevin None, live at the Golden Bull; press photo courtesy of the artists.
It is all too easy to succumb to the low hanging rewards of cynicism. Abandon hope for creative futures, resigned to the stubborn ideology that all the best of everything has already long been done before. The bands and songs that could have been our lives have all played out their canonical contributions on yesterday’s platforms. The pantheon gallery of rogues, romantics, renaissance folks, and gallant talents remain unmovable without any question to their authenticity and worthiness, with their hagiographies and tomes splayed on the yellowing pages of discontinued music magazines to the lonely, and largely orphaned, blog URLs sporting digital dissertations and other such poetics.
Then along comes a song that feels like a movie, or a lurid prestige limited edition cable series, and ultimately a song that encapsulates latter-day 20th century power pop that leans into the emotional madness of the new millennium. Bay Area's beloved Bliss Abyss brings it bigtime on their new single that valiantly strikes at the core of a broken spirit and heart with "Red Disgusting".
Lead by the prolific Peter Wallner (Astronomers Anonymous, Some Ember, Wax Idols, Whisper, et al.), with bassist Kevin None, and percussionist Josh Unger: the trio in conjunction with producer Joe Finocchio work to refine the most raw and rough edges of textural music into something that sounds sparkling, special, and new. As evidenced by the astronomy space ripple waves on "Star", "Red Disgusting" manages to do something rarely heard from the esteemed slacker flannel folks that ruled the radios of the 1990s. Bliss Abyss imagines entertains the question of what if the ‘Valentines moonlit as a Stateside garage stoner punk group, exuding the total embodiment of the best band that early era Matador never signed, to displaying echoes of James Iha's best shining moments.
“Red Disgusting” runs out of the gates full throttle with a windswept energy, replete with catchy chords that further egg on Josh's pepped-up rhythms and Kevin's thumping bass. Bliss Abyss rages with frustration and Peter’s emotional fury of complicated feelings centered around being stuck in a toxic rut. "Disgusting" rides it out to the edges of a bad romance, setting boundaries with an untethered, harmonic emotional delivery that asserts truth through the necessitated separation from distorted existences.
he chorus refrain of you smile when you cry from Wallner wails with a heart wrung vulnerability, wearing emotions that are tightly knitted on the sleeves, and arranging a song that glimmers and glows like a choir of sunbeams breaking through a stormy cluster of menacing clouds. Bliss Abyss blesses us with a cathartic song that reclaims personal autonomy, rebuilding a life, a newfound trust rooted in reality, and a stronger foundation and feeling that the band righteously delivers through the power of song; sailing the skies in sound for higher meanings and better states of living.
In the prismatic light with Bliss Abyss’ Peter Wallner; press photo courtesy of the artist.
Peter Wallner of Bliss Abyss provided the following privy insights on the new single:
“Red Disgusting” is a breakup song about narrative control, emotional vandalism, and watching charm curdle into cruelty. It's watching a person rewrite reality to protect their own fragile self image, and getting glimpses of these grotesque tendencies.
It’s being repulsed by someone you are still addicted to and the horror of watching them smile while they actively destroy you.
And ultimately it's about refusing to be a part of someone else's fiction.
“Red Disgusting” from Bliss Abyss is available now.