Heartbreaking Bravery

For well over a year now, this site has been anxiously anticipating — and meticulously tracking — the release of Charly Bliss‘ debut full-length. Easily one of the most heavily featured bands of these pages, the quartet’s finally offered up the first glimpse at what will be a viable Album of the Year contender. Before diving too much further into that piece of pop confection, though, it’s worth noting that for one of the first times all year, Heartbreaking Bravery is back on pace with the breaking release cycle.

To that end, these posts will resume including the most notable releases in individual streams, full streams, and music videos. Today saw the release of great new songs from Toys That Kill, The Velveteins, Sudakistan, Andy C. Jenkins, and Sonny & The Sunsets, while Blessed, Thin Lips, and Angel Du$t unveiled their respective records. Capping things off were a trio of music videos from ultraviolence, Turnover, and, of course, Charly Bliss.

Ever since the release of the band’s exhilarating Soft Serve EP — a very real early contender for EP of the Decade — the band’s been on the cusp of greatness. The band’s full-length debut, whenever it finds release, will go a long way in re-affirming the band’s undeniable talent to those already in the know or convince a whole new host of converts that they’re one of the most exciting bands on the planet. “Ruby”, one of many breathless runs through hard-charging, cleanly-produced basement pop, has now emerged as the record’s lead-off single.

In every instance I’ve been fortunate enough to catch the band running through the song, guitarist/vocalist Eva Hendricks has introduced the song with an almost-giddy “this song’s about my therapist!” Hendricks’ forthright honesty imbues “Ruby”, and the bulk of the band’s work, with a palpable sense of both wonderment and charm. Part of what makes Charly Bliss’ music so intriguing is that any projected innocence is routinely cut through with something much darker, a trait that the Andrew Costa-directed clip underscores beautifully by bringing out the song’s most jolting line (“passed out on the subway with blood in my hair”) and then in the video’s nightmarish finale.

“Ruby” is far from being defined by gloom, most of the clip’s an open-hearted ode to public access television (specifically siting the 1984 Ralph “Whistler” Giese clip from Kelly & Company in the music video’s premiere piece for The AV Club). Every member of the band turns in endearing performances as the clip rapidly scans through a series of entertaining cliches. The editing work throughout is strong, hitting its best moment with a perfectly-timed kick from bassist Dan Shafer, and “Ruby” never devolves into chaos or loses its identity despite the overwhelming amount of material brought into focus.

All in all, “Ruby” creates a solid hook for the band’s upcoming release while effortlessly tapping into the band’s oddball identity. Their humor’s tinged with the slightest hint of pathos, grounded in an unflinching reality that the band’s more acutely aware of then they sometimes let on. It’s an invigorating preview of what could eventually come to be regarded as a genre classic, landing a breathtaking series of grace notes that announce the band is more than ready to officially arrive.

Watch “Ruby” below and keep an eye on this site for an inevitable slew of updates on the band’s forthcoming full-length debut throughout the year. Beneath the official clip, watch a video of the band performing the song last year as part of Father/Daughter’s Northside showcase.

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