Review by Caleb Newton via New Noise Magazine
Blis. - No One Loves You out Oct 6 on Sargent House
Blis. is one of those bands that’s deceptively simple and perhaps even deceptively sappy. Although the band’s new album, No One Loves You, opens with the phrase “I’m dumb,” which is a statement that might turn people off because of being representative of an overly massive level of self pity, if you keep listening, the band’s vocalist Aaron Gossett actually makes his case and makes it well. There is a definite appeal here for fans of emotional rock music that’s off the beaten path.
No One Loves You could be described as an artistically reckless exploration of one’s own emotions set to song. The narrative sense in the songs is strong, which helps make them memorable. Not all bands can really pull off being overly vague.
If you imagined what a young adult male who had grown up as a latchkey kid might sound like if his inner emotions were set to song, Blis. is for you. There is a moment on the album that captures the album’s emotion well, when Gossett slowly and mournfully sings “Nine months, times up. Yeah I’m fucked, I’m a dad now.”
Another similarly emotional state capturing moment comes on the track called “Lost Boy,” when Gossett implores his lover, who is carrying his child, to not let that child be “lost” to the god that Gossett’s lover follows. For all of the trappings of the music, the emotional storytelling stands to really connect with you.
The vocals are mostly artfully strained cleans; it’s important to read along to the songs on this release as you listen to them, which could be considered both a drawback and a plus. The artful, sometimes wispy strain of the vocals takes some getting used to if you’re not into bands that sound pretty much exactly like this already. In addition, as already mentioned, there are stories being told here in the music, so it’s somewhat necessary to be on top of what’s going on to really get into it. The strong narrative sense on the album really carries it along. No One Loves You is an emotional story told through rock – and it’s worth listening to.