This Bliss Embrace a New Perspective with the ‘Radiate’ EP
Any sort of artistic endeavor is meant to grow and change over time. If an approach to music, visual art, film or any other creative medium stays the same, then it becomes stagnant and boring. One act that is never affiliated with those two words is the Boston electropop duo This Bliss. Vocalist Jess Baggia and multi-instrumentalist Nick Zampiello have a way of making music that’s direct and expansive in simultaneous fashion. Their latest Radiate EP that came out on September 13 is one of the numerous excellent examples of how they exhibit their craft.
The new record marks a change for Baggia and Zampiello in terms of writing songs and overall perspective. The whole process took some time to bear any fruit, but from listening to the EP, it seems that it was very well worth the wait.
“In 2020, a few key events changed my songwriting: the death of my best friend, the pandemic, and the social toxicity of my current music ‘scene’ reaching a climax I could no longer tolerate,” Baggia says about how the EP came together. “Before this, Nick wrote most of our music and I wrote the lyrics and melodies. However that year, I decided to take a new approach to the instrumentals and construction. I was searching for an intersection of singer-songwriter ethos with electronic music. Admittedly, I am still searching, but that journey produced the songs in this EP.”
“The songs represent over three years of writing with ‘Radiate’ being the oldest and ‘One Day’ the newest,” she adds. “Over those years, my perspective has shifted but the themes remain the same: searching for my voice and place while grappling with what it means to be an artist in a world that often forgets the value of art. The lyrics of ‘Radiate’ capture that sentiment: ‘I try to find it in me, but I got lost in routine’”.
Along with the title track and “One Day”, “Indiana”, “First Takes All” and “Love Song” round out a stellar array of songs. For folks in the Boston area who are interested in seeing This Bliss perform some of the tunes in a live setting, the duo is going to be part a really cool event. It’s the opening night for “Synth-tember: A Synthesis of Art and Science” at the New Alliance Gallery, which is located on 438R Somerville Avenue in Somerville on September 20. The whole thing starts at 8pm, but for now, give the new EP a listen at the link below.
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