PREMIERE: SONS OF BLISS

Sons of Bliss – “Sunset Swimming” Live at Electric Prairie Recordings

Four years ago, punk/metal trio Sons of Bliss came to my old basement studio to record their debut single.

They switched on their busted amps, downtuned to C, slammed through a take, and sent me reeling back to 1999. Their nostalgic yet fresh combination of nü metal, punk, and shoegaze conjured memories of car rides to hockey games, middle school Goldeneye tournaments, and boomboxes blaring on decks at summertime backyard parties.

Singer/guitarist Raven Larson photographed by Mansoor Ahmad

…the feral energy of a teenager set loose on a Friday night.

Since that first release, Sons of Bliss have dropped a variety of singles; 2023’s Painted Skies EP, and their 2024 full-length Dog Days, and developed a strong following in the Midwestern metal scene. While their sound and song craft have evolved over the years, their music retains that same time machine magic. Their latest single, “Sunset Swimming”, captured live at Electric Prairie Recordings, has effectively deposited me outside my hometown roller rink abuzz with all the feral energy of a teenager set loose on a Friday night.

Bassist Eli Faustich photographed by Mansoor Ahmad

“Sunset Swimming” encapsulate[s] Sons of Bliss’s signature sound: melancholic, desperate, brimming with volatility.

From the rhythm guitar overture to frontman Raven Larson’s opening vocals, “Sunset Swimming” serves as a history lesson for new listeners and a glimpse into the future for familiar fans. The song’s opening measures encapsulate Sons of Bliss’s signature sound: melancholic, desperate, brimming with volatility. Per their genre, Larson’s vocals vacillate between croon and chaos. “Sunset Swimming” showcases his versatility and highlights the way his quavering desperation can disarm the heart and shed hazy light into the darkened tunnels of memory. This element of Larson’s vocal style is as powerful as his larynx-shredding metal growls, which, admittedly, are hella badass, and rip apart the swimmy dreamscape in the song’s second act.

“Sunset Swimming” reveals a young band moving into its future.

Sons of Bliss’s distinctive musical sound is rounded out by Eli Faustich’s effortless and melodic bass lines. Akin to the basswork of Op Ivy/Rancid’s Matt Freeman, Faustich’s spidery phrasings create jazz-like movement behind the onslaught of Larson’s raging Marshall and recent addition Kodi Lowe’s thundering drums, whose rhythmic changeup from Gatling gun double-bass to pseudo-reggae in the coda serves as a surprising denouement, the sort of arrangement move that develops organically when rehearsal jams push deep into a song’s realm. Lowe’s offbeat hi-hat lifts create oceanic movement over which Larson’s falsetto (also new territory for the young singer) floats as the music fades, painting my mind’s eye with the visceral reds and pinks of sunset slipping into waves. Despite the coda’s cinematic resignation, “Sunset Swimming” reveals a young band moving into its future.

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