Method acting isn’t for everyone, but Peter Wallner is willing to give it a try. Getting into character in “Impersonator,” knocked sideways by woozy effects and crunchy, trudging riffs, the driving force behind Bliss Abyss imagines imitating the weather – seems a little ambitious – and sings of “taking meteor showers” to get over being heartbroken. It’s the part he was born to play.
Mostly cast in supporting roles to this point, throwing his lot in with Wax Idols, Some Ember, Whisper and Heaven’s Club, Wallner’s dabbled in synth-punk and synth-pop, post-punk and even a bit of industrial-gaze clangor and swoon with Astronomers Anonymous. All that restless experimentation has led to this, a self-titled Bliss Abyss LP – some of it dreamy and disorienting, other episodes ecstatic and full of melodic wonder – overflowing with surreal sounds and ideas and bountiful hooks.
With power-pop immediacy and swerving shoegazing might on full display, the dizzying new self-titled album from Wallner and company practically gushes big guitars, roaring to life like Failure in shimmery, overdriven blowouts “Feral” and “Fragile & Furious” and bending to Superdrag’s gravitational will in “Suns on Fire,” subtly unpredictable with its angular, whiplash dynamics. More wistful and jangly, “Red Disgusting” is alternately sad and bitter at being deceived, as a resigned, lovesick Wallner sighs, “I’m so disgusted, but I adore you.”
So much for playing it close to the vest. Taking stock in the life-affirming and uplifting “Star,” a strummed, starry beauty of self-actualization, Bliss Abyss closes on a positive note. But not before the urgent, atmospheric rush and infectious riffs of “Wrecked” get nostalgic for the emo yearning of Knapsack and The Jealous Sound and the heavier, darker flow and tight drumming of “Spectrophilia” tap into a rich vein of coursing indie-rock persuasion.
While the songs of the Bay Area trio have a familiar ring, placing a finger on who they’re in league with isn’t so easy. Forget playing that game. You might lose sight of the classic tunefulness at work here, as well as their ability to make each track so pleasingly distinctive. What a shame that would be.
