FEATURE: Electronic Brother Duo Bliss Nova Talk About Their New EP ‘Silence’; Share Dance-Pop Single “Get U”
Bliss Nova began as a tentative side project for Daniel and Joel Trzcinski, siblings from Toledo, OH. They had been the backing band for a singer/songwriter whose health issues put the project on indefinite hiatus. Without so much as a name, the sonic direction only became clear with Daniel’s initial bedroom demos — lofi melodic pop with samples and soft synths, eventually adding Joel’s dynamic drumming to the mix for what would become their 2015 debut EP Do You Feel. From there, the band began constructing their live show, and embarked on a seven-show tour run before heading into a new direction with their 2017 EP Light & Shadow.
With their debut full-length Going Places hitting shelves back in 2019, the brother duo found a more cohesive synth-groove feel, bringing in vintage influences and more, and that expansion and maturity continues on their latest EP Silence. Expanding their sonic horizons, Bliss Nova head into R&B-inflected D’n”B territory, with nu-disco, house, even vaporwave becoming part of the process. Mixed by Alec Ness (Dizzy Fae) and mastered by Joe Lambert (Toro y Moi, Washed Out), the four-track effort is a captivating and dance-inducing collection, setting the stage for a follow-up project in 2022.
“Aside from a cover and instrumental b-side, this EP is our first release since 2019. Like many people doing music as pandemic reality hit, I was unavoidably faced with figuring out how to move forward in what felt like a frozen world. Oscar Wilde tells us life’s two tragedies: one is not getting what you want, and the other is getting it. I got laid off — and had nothing but time to consider what my creative pursuit/compulsion meant in the wake of a new set of limitations and freedoms; on the other side of that process emerged a surprisingly concise song cycle about desire, underscored by post(?)ironic sadboi electronica“.
From the release is the nu-disco hit “Get U’. With strong comparisons to Channel Tres, Flight Facilities, and Toro y Moi, the song combines the heavenly pace of synthwave with the dance-floor invasion of crisp melodies and late-night energy. Inspired by the idea of living in the moment, its effortless ambience provides a feel-good experience.
Listen to Silence below, and read more about the project in the latest Q&A just past:
Now that it’s been a few weeks, how does it feel to have Silence out into the world?
It’s always a good feeling to see our hard work finally go out into the world and be received well. We tend to be very meticulous with everything from recording to artwork and promo images, so it’s a little exhausting but well worth it when we hit that stride of constantly showing everything we’ve been heads-down working on. It’s important to feel that completeness and witness the exchange of work close to our heart now become something the audience builds their own relationship with. You have to let go and just let it be, and that’s a beautiful practice. The ultimate payoff was a hometown show where we got to play all the new songs live. Everyone came ready to dance and were singing along, which made it feel extra special.
How does ‘Silence’ fit with your upcoming project?
I think there’s a feeling as an artist that you’re only as good as your most recent release or that the newest thing is the best work done to date. For us, creative risk is the most important thing right now, rather than getting too hung up on where we think it fits. It’s nothing other than a journey we’re on as we seek to expand the possibilities of what Bliss Nova can be, while retaining the essence of what it already is. The next grouping of songs are going to be completely different. Silence is just a singular moment in the world of Bliss Nova.
What is “Get U” about?
In the remainder of a 2020 camping escape around the Great Lakes, I stopped in Milwaukee to visit a large used bookstore — the books weren’t large, but the store was. Anyway, I had three things: a well-rounded stack* in my hands all the way up to my chin, a dwindling monetary supply, and an “aw-what-the-heck” attitude. For better or worse, you can retroactively justify any action. One way is to remix “desire unbound” into a dance track.
*Including Hegel’s Phenomenology, dog-eared — its introduction, unbeknownst to me, torn out.
How do you hope your music will help connect listeners?
As a listener, I resonate with vulnerable voices, because creative energy seems to generate from letting our incompletenesses overlap — not so we can fill in our gaps but to share in letting them be. One joke says there are three types of people in the world: those who can count, and those who can’t. What’s the hook? First you think it’s supposed to be an objective stat, but then it doesn’t add up — until you see that the seeming ‘mistake’ locates our two subjective positions: mine (I can’t count) and yours (you can). Understanding my situatedness in relation to our world (from a third position, so to speak) has only brought me closer to people, and I hope my music does the same with my listeners.
The live shows have been an important part of your sound – has the bedroom DIY approach to your music influenced your live shows?
For me, most songwriting starts in isolation with the DAW open; my analog-digital hybrid production later gets re-assembled into a performance version. In earlier years, I tried to replicate it all live alongside Joel’s drumming — triggering everything with a SP-404SX and playing chords and leads with real-time effects on a synth and singing. Since then, we’ve simplified the setup to be efficient enough to have a lot of fun performing along with the audience . . . while still tweaking filters on the fly.
What are some creative aspects that have stuck with you throughout the years as Bliss Nova?
Subtraction is adding negatively. “Purity of heart is to will one thing,” and that’s about all any one of us can handle. So subtract all the way up to something that counts as one, even if it isn’t.
