Photo credit: Milan Dileo
Charly Bliss, now based across New York City and Australia, present their most confident album yet with the aptly-titled ‘Forever’.
The record opens with ‘Tragic’, a bass-heavy slice of power pop about the power of lust which finds Eva Hendricks declaring ‘I know I gotta have you’. It finishes with a flourish before ‘Calling You Out’ opens with observations about unsaved numbers in phones and how they aren’t always what they seem, especially ‘the guy who takes care of me’. ‘Back There Now’ takes you to the dancefloor – albeit with a touch of Robyn-style sadness as Eva asks ‘When you say that you miss me, are you thinking about someone else?’
‘Nineteen’ opens with perfectly pitched piano as Eva look back on favorite moments from a past relationship – everything from a black T-shirt to ‘staying up three hours past 12’. This comes to a sudden stop when she decides to declare her and her partner as ‘monsters’… ‘How Do You Do It’ has a Bleachers feel and wouldn’t be out of place on a John Hughes soundtrack (especially when Eva delivers the fateful line ‘In 2011, my ex called me basic’) while ‘I Don’t Know Anything’ covers imposter syndrome with candour and honesty: ‘I wish it were different but it’s true, some of the time I hate what we do’.
‘Waiting for You’ has talk of empty hotel rooms amidst a Killers-esque soundtrack – there’s even a refrain of ‘we’re still alive’ – before ‘Last First Kiss’ closes the record with ’80s-inspired synth, bass and hope: ‘I want you to be my last first kiss’. ‘Forever’ is a record that packs a punch of heartbreak and bliss…
