Atlanta based rock band Blis. released their debut album No One Loves You on 6th October via Sargent House Records. This is more than your typical debut, this is full formed, confident and assured album. It’s the sound of a band that have their style and direction honed and perfected. 

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The record mosaics their influences—the intricate rock riffs of American Football, Pedro the Lion’s midtempo balladry gone awry with crucial aggression, indie rock sensibility of Silversun Pickups. It all comes together in an immediate and charming album that begs for repeated listening. The band officially started recording under the Blis. name a few years ago, but frontman/primary songwriter Aaron Gossett has been pursuing the project for much longer. “It’s pretty much the first musical endeavour I did after high school,” he recounts. “I started biting off more than I could chew so I had a couple of friends help me. We did a record that has since been taken offline. After that we kept going, certain people worked out, certain people didn’t and we finally solidified our line-up around 2012.” 

The album pickups where 2015 EP Starting Fires In My Parents House left off and expands upon the sound. It’s intricate and experimental, but accessible and instantaneous at the same time. You’ll be hard pushed not only to find a song you disliked but also to give the album just one listen. It’s one of those albums that require, at a minimum, a second listening within the same setting. It’s the relatability and impassioned vocal work of Gossett that gives you an insatiable thirst for more of No One Loves You. Partly due the complicated emotional development of the album—despondent songs that criticize the negative forces in Gossett’s life while never feeling particularly hopeless. Almost every track mentions God or religion. “You have these groups of people who feel obligated by tradition and habits to follow a belief system,” he explains. “If you get to the core of a lot of religions, they’re kind of awful: really disgusting homophobic, misogynistic shit.” It’s harsh, but near the heart of Blis. 

Conversely, you can’t ignore the musicianship here. Songs like ‘Old Man’, ‘Lost Boy’, ‘Home’ and ‘Christian Girls’ are up there with some of the best songs you’ll hear in 2017 regardless of the vocals or the lyrical content. ‘Home’ is particularly strong and evident of just how good Blis. are. Essential 

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