Bliss

Bliss presents four distinct sonic ecosystems, each unfolding with its own internal logic over the course of ten minutes. Inspired by a return to MP3 player-based music consumption and its more exploratory listening experience, the compositions weave together field recordings, experimental sound design, classical orchestration and lyrical passages into expansive meditations that depart from conventional form. 

The work chronicles a year of extensive travel, with field recordings serving as concrete anchors to specific moments: glass cracking underfoot in an abandoned Pennsylvania vacation resort, roman candles illuminating an Austin parking lot, and voices echoing through a Syracuse train yard on the day of a solar eclipse. These "sound souvenirs," as described in the first seconds of the final track, form the foundation for each piece, with additional composition layers reflecting the internal, dreamlike states experienced in these uncanny locations. The result is a deeply personal audio diary that maps both physical and psychological territories, transforming fleeting moments of transcendence and disintegration into a cohesive sonic expedition.

PRESS:

Nina Protocol - “An idiosyncratic sonic travelogue.”

Bandcamp (AOTD) - “The elongated experiments of Bliss do not feel written per se, but compiled, assembled, constructed, pieced together, and then expertly welded along the seams. Perhaps that’s in the name: Alice doesn’t write computer music, they do it.”

Hearing Things - “It’s like each long track is a dream of a particular piece of music, and for a few minutes at a time, somewhere near the middle, you get to hear it in waking life.”

CREDITS:

Music by Alice Gerlach
Mixed by Alice Gerlach and Jonathan Bailey
Additional production on tracks 2 and 3 by Jonathan Bailey
Mastered by Andrew Weathers
Violin on tracks 2 and 3 by Mari Maurice
Drums on track 4 by Jon Starks