Album Review: FOREVER by Charly Bliss

This is the album the Brooklyn-based band were always capable of, each song shimmering with hooks, enticing vocals, and lyrics that fete the complexities of love, desire, and ambition. "Calling You Out" has all the requirements to be a singalong hit on the beach, in the club, or in the car - with windows down while cruising the west coast's Highway 1 or blasting the AC during a northeast traffic jam. A hyper-catchy tale about not wanting to be a negative person who's always on the look-out for betrayal (and therefore almost always finds it), the song highlights the band's streamlined sound.

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Although they're no strangers to pop music, having dabbled in '90s pop revivalism to frenetic bubblegrunge, FOREVER is Charly Bliss' swan dive into pop excellence. Produced by Jake Luppen (Hippo Camus), Caleb Wright (Samia) and the band's drummer Sam Hendricks, the record is filled with Charly Bliss-style unabashed playfulness, which is realized now more than ever as they fully embrace their pop sound with triumphant self-assuredness. If the band's 2017 debut Guppy was filled with jagged edges and confessions filled with reckless honesty, and Young Enough was a synthed-up love letter of celebration, then FOREVER is ever knowing and wise beyond its years, and offers a level of maturity and reflection that is well-matched with overflowing joyfulness -- above all, FOREVER is fun.

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sparkle glitter bouncy swoon In the context of Charly Bliss, Forever is a fairly obvious step down: it takes the catchy elements of 2019's Young Enough and runs with it while blissfully ignoring that record's more expansive and mesmerising elements. However, in the context of summer, Forever is an absolute blast of bright-eyed peppy pop and nostalgia-infused ballads: a sugar rush you shouldn't think too much about, and just enjoy instead. It may not feel as good as a proper meal with veggies and nutrients once it's over, but it's hard to ignore how the best CRJ anthem in years known as "Back There Now" crams its electric chorus a grand total of two times into its first minute.

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Charly Bliss seem destined to be one of those bands whose new music is constantly compared to their debut. Their 2017 record, Guppy, was an urgent and scrappy introduction to the band, packed with fuzzy guitars and buoyant hooks. However, the band quickly leaned into their penchant for colorful synth-laden power pop with their follow-up, Young Enough, leading some fans to take issue with the record's sleek studio polish.

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Business as usual on their first album in five years, even if there’s a detectable shift in priorities, for Eva Hendricks and co When Charly Bliss first burst out of the New York alternative scene in 2017 with their debut album Guppy, they seemed nothing more than a colourful tribute to the punk-pop of their influences – a garish mix of Weezer, No Doubt and The All-American Rejects. The sort of band who, back in the day, would probably have played The Bronze in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Since that debut album, Eva Hendricks and company have perfected the art of the big, youthful, pop anthem.

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Since the release of their debut in 2017, Brooklyn four-piece Charly Bliss have forged an atypical blend of power-pop, one that owes a debt to everything from early '90s grunge to bubblegum - largely through vocalist Eva Hendricks' highly distinctive tone. 'Forever', their third studio album and first since 2019, welcomes them all through the distorted, crashing guitars of 'I Don't Know Anything', the unique balladry of 'Easy To Love You', and the anthemic pop builds of 'Here Comes The Darkness' and 'Nineteen', the latter an immediate sister to 'Young Enough's brilliant title track and in its soaring nostalgia, easily one of the best tracks the band have released. Much like their 2019 second record, 'Forever' is built on a fragile zeitgeist that embraces themes of love, vulnerability and youth, bounding between joy and a palpable urgency instilled by driving drum patterns over boundless melodies.

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