Harrison Gordon – BLISS

If there isn’t a T shirt with ‘Harrison Gordon Is A Band’ printed on it, there bloody well should be. Harrison Gordon is, in fact, the musical vehicle for Harrison Gordon the human being. The band is the channel for a particular kind of crusty no-fucks-given-grunge that careens between heavy angry grinding and velvety melody. Both are disconcerting and unsettling. Deliberately so, we’re sure.

After a couple of runs through BLISS, it’s apparent that this album is not designed to be put on to soundtrack tender moments. It’s hot and heavy stuff with torrents of grinding guitar and impassioned vocals punctuated by howls of feedback and unexpected affecting moments of melodic bliss, illustrated perfectly by opening track Weirdo with its deceptively mellow intro that disintegrates into a battering guitar onslaught. The following track, Milwaukee Josh, conjures a grimly dark vibe, like a severely pissed-off Weezer. And thus the scene is set for the album. It reeks of hot clubs and cigarette smoke and never lets you get an angle. Just as you think you’re getting a hold on it, it slips away into something else. As if to underline the Harrison Gordon method, standout track Buffalo Jim seems playfully understandable and tuneful, melding a kind of Pixies howl with a Hüsker Dü musicality. All in all though, this is an abrasive and at times punishing album, full of self-deprecating lyrical themes. Not easy listening by any means.

What may we make, then, of Harrison Gordon from this collection of songs? If this record was a celebrity, it would be John Belushi – dangerously unpredictable and teetering on the edge of control but also supremely likeable and a bit forlorn. For all its bluster and bravado, there is a core of melodic authority here that the band seem determined to undermine sonically with atonal moments and unexpected tempo changes. But somehow, it all works. Harrison Gordon‘s BLISS (is) are a beef trifle served in an ashtray. Lap (him) it up.

BLISS is out now on Hopeless Records.