CD of The Week

Charly Bliss - Forever (Lucky Number)

For fans of Charly Bliss’s debut, Guppy, it will be quite hard to believe that Forever is the same band. Their previous record Young Enough had them towel off from the pool of alt-rock and they began wading into pop’s shallow end. Forever makes an Olympic-level dive into Top 40 radio’s deep end. Full of synths and tween first love anthems with barely a 90’s guitar riff in sight, can anyone have figured everything out about life and become this blissfully happy? Well, no, not completely. The pulsing (and an exception to no-heavy-guitars) “I Don’t Know Everything” touches on the philosophically spiraling thoughts about what constitutes success, coming away with more questions than answers. Charly Bliss was always confident in their ability to craft a catchy pop hook, but with this first album in five years, they’ve realized a truer self; shucking away all the grunge, finding the emotional and abusive grit that’s been lodged deep within has grown into a shiny pearl.

During the long grueling tour for Young Enough, the band’s existence seemed to be in question. Singer Eva Hendricks told Consequence of Sound, “My life was falling apart. I had just decided to blow up everything and start over.” Trying to put everything into perspective, Hendricks came up with the self-motivating/defeating mantra of “How do you do it” by answering “You get through it, then you put yourself through it again.” Shortly after that, she watched her brother/Charly Bliss drummer Sam Hendricks become a father, and she moved to Australia as the pandemic began. The pandemic dealt everyone existential questions like “Have I done enough when I had the time?” and “I’m Not Dead” starts out mild-tempered, building to rage, forcefully fantasizing about making better choices.

But for Eva, this was the perfect reset. While in Australia, a naturally platonic friendship evolved, and the bond she felt gave her the muse to pen the acoustic sugary ballad “In Your Bed.”  At the same time, the forced time apart made her realize how much she took her bandmates for granted. The playful power pop of “Waiting For You” is an apologetic love letter to the rest of the band. And the prom slow dance of “Here Comes the Darkness” sings of her yearning to continue working on Charly Bliss, what Eva said “has been the greatest love of my life.”

But that’s not to say she doesn’t have room for OTHER love in her life. The other big change for Eva during the writing process was romantic, and half of the album revolves around that discovery. The final track “Last First Kiss” crosses its fingers behind its back, dreaming of the perfect adult version of a CW teen drama relationship, which happened to materialize for her in real life (Also: see last year’s pop-punk single “I Need a New Boyfriend”). When it did, nothing in the world was as important, so the dance floor opener “Tragic” and the strummy, emotional “Easy to Love You” sing about it to anyone who will listen. The bouncy 80s supercharged “Back There Now” and the piano ballad single “Nineteen” look at past relationships, putting her current one into perspective. But as it seemed too perfect, she sensed past jealous tendencies coming into play. On the vibrating synth arena rocker “Calling You Out,” that feeling of self-sabotage surfaced as she looked for reasons to detonate the perfect relationship.

But it all worked out and all is going well. They have a happy, glowing new album, and tour dates across the states, finishing up at Philly’s Underground Arts on October 10th. Break out your (or your little sister’s) Taylor Swift shirt and experience pure Charly Bliss.Charly Bliss
Review by Shepard Ritzen