Lanny – bliss!! bliss! bliss
On their debut solo record, Lanny rips up the power-pop playbook – bliss!! bliss! bliss is the optimal lo-fi manual for coping in the modern age
There’s a great thrill in watching an accomplished act take a bold left turn, reframing their talents in a fresh context and adding a new chapter to their artistic journey. Lan McArdle’s work in Joanna Gruesome and Ex-Void, magnificently hook heavy guitar-pop bands, needs little introduction. bliss!! bliss! bliss, their debut solo album as Lanny, rips up that power-pop playbook, deconstructs it, and finds a unique endpoint; the result is as fresh sounding as any indie record released this year.
bliss!! bliss! bliss retains traces of McArdle’s previous work; ur an angel im evil is in the Blue Rev ballpark, the lush harmonies in b4 long recall Cocteau Twins and both lamb and easy, right, are infectious, anthemic, well-crafted songwriter’s songs. That being said, this record is less about individual songs, more than a feeling translated artfully. Documenting the end of a relationship, and all the pain and suffering that entails, McArdle gets creative in conveying the personal chaos and turmoil. The title tracks (a trio of songs called bliss!!, bliss!, and bliss that open, split and close the album) are sound-art, soothing ambiences where multiple voices jostle for prominence. There’s a guitar hook one minute into the album, but it’s mixed low, like it’s coming from elsewhere.
McArdle suggests bathos is a prominent lyrical theme – the moment where a feeling of profound gravity turns trivial. It’s a specific headspace to explore, but a rich one, intense but darkly comic, and any album that closes with text-to-speech repetitions of ‘i sincerely wish you all the best’ is made by someone who feels, who hurts, but retains a sense of humour about it all. In that sense bliss!! bliss! bliss is the optimal lo-fi manual for coping in the modern age.
Listen to: lamb, b4 long, easy, right