Gliss

Gliss make no secret of their affinity for the Smashing Pumpkins. They've opened for them, covered "Rhinoceros" on a tribute album-- even their name could be mistaken for a long-lost B-side. Fortunately for Gliss, they seem a lot more in touch with the Smashing Pumpkins' strengths than Billy Corgan does these days. "Morning Light", the opening track from their forthcoming sophomore effort, Devotion Implosion, is firmly rooted in the Siamese Dream era, when Corgan's band struck a fine balance between shoegazer insularity and American arena rock bombast. Predictably, the feedback is molten-- the guitars fed through an untold assortment of pedals and blown amps. The volume alone is nearly enough to carry it, but "Light" also critically maintains momentum, surging forward instead of sinking beneath its own weight.A sycophantic tribute perhaps, but it sure beats anything the Silversun Pickups have dreamt up. - Pitchfork

Gliss, an L.A. based three piece indie outfit, is a recent discovery for me as I mentioned in the intro. The song that first caught my attention, “Morning Light”, is the album’s first and best track. Incorporating fuzzy guitar feedback and fluid rhythms, “Morning Light” sounds like something off one of my old Jesus and Mary Chain records. In fact, the whole album sounds like an old Jesus and Mary Chain album. “Lovers in the Bathroom” and “Beauty” now have permanent residency in my Ipod thanks to the masterful guitar riffs and soft, raspy vocal stylings on those tracks. The rest of Devotion Implosion is a great listen for indie fans, but I fear that to some the album may tend to sound monotonous after listening to it the whole way through. I call it “flow” in this case. Overall, Devotion Implosion is a wonderful mix of 60s era psychedelic indie and somber garage rock. It’s a stands out album in crowded indie field. Simply put, Devotion Implosion is an indie psychedelic experience that must be had. - Double Stereo

Los Angeles trio Gliss have fully embraced the other-worldly nature of dream pop. The sophomore effort from the multi-instrumentalists, Devotion Implosion, is steeped in an apparent love for the early Nineties Creation Records catalogue and a mutual affection for Bill Corgan (they accompanied a recent incarnation of Smashing Pumpkins on their European tour). - Drowned in Sound

Gliss is an experimental indie pop group from Los Angeles whose music has the ability to put you into a psychedelic dream-like state. The mind-altering sounds that Victoria Cecilia, Martin Klingman, and David Reiss create can be found on their second album, "Devotion Implosion," which was just released through Cordless Recordings on April 7th.

The compilation of noise on "Devotion Implosion" is a mix of fuzzed out guitars played by Reiss and mellow bass lines produced by Cecilia. The record is chaotic and tracks such as "Sad Eyes" perfectly portray the beauty that can be found in a catchy rock-pop overdose. The lyrics on the album, written by Klingman, begin as sweet words of love that transform into dark lonely expressions as songs like "Sleep" and "Beauty " exemplify. Although Klingman provides the vocals for most of the tracks, Cecilia throws in her own vocal notes in a few songs. The album was mixed by Gareth Jones, who worked with Depeche Mode, which explains the modern '80s feel that the record encompasses.

"Devotion Implosion" conveys a sweet blend of harmonies that your ears will absolutely adore. It's a well-produced album and a great dream-pop sound for 2009. - Plug-in Music

This is one that will have the landlord phoning in a noise-violation complaint. Devotion Implosion is riddled with ungoverned noise, with its three authors and producer Gareth Jones (Wire, Clinic and Erasure) ushering in at all times a reverb-heavy duel between soaring, androgynous vocals and crass guitar feedback. Shoegaze bleariness and ‘90s grunge come together like a Reese’s on Gliss’s second full-length, and because the lyrics don’t always fall into an introspective place, it’s fortunate that they’re coded in delay and deeply buried in clobbering rock.

With Devotion Implosion, Gliss heralds somewhat of a musical shift since 2006’s Love the Virgins. The calling card of an expensive studio bill is very apparent this time around, and the inadequately lit dance floor, low-fidelity sonics of three years ago are swapped out for long-resonating, swampy chords. Gliss seems more obsessed with both garage punk and dark dance rock on its debut LP than on its frequently dizzying follow-up. Virgins’ muddy Velvet Underground tributes and angular efforts stand in stark contrast to the more modern sounds the band assembles on Devotion. It brings to mind former Gliss tourmates Giant Drag and its raw Hearts and Unicorns, particularly “This Isn’t It”, every time Devotion Implosion is fired up—the wiry single-string guitar leads, the doubled vocals that coast out on top of the mess at the chorus—but dissonance isn’t as big a player on Gliss’ record as is the tide of fuzz pedals and delay effects. The other comparatively prominent musical influence at work on Devotion Implosion is one you’ll find yourself thinking of more often than Gliss when you’re sifting through its new batch of songs.

Even an aloof friend, half-listening from down the hall, could capably identify a ludicrous-sized contribution from the Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie-era Smashing Pumpkins output on Gliss’ Devotion Implosion. Nothing here ever nears the quaint front end of the Pumpkins’ “Soma”, though—with the exception of “Beauty”. When the Los Angeles trio peels back for crisp tremolo’d guitars and hand claps, Gliss keeps the levels high and distorted. Deceptively, “Sleep” almost begins as a lullaby that could’ve fit on the “Twilight to Starlight” volume of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, minus the superfluous guitar overdubs. Gliss shows off on “Sleep”, and it executes a mastery of vocal entanglement that it only flirts with on the rest of the record.

Both Martin Klingman and Victoria Cecilia offer a blur of indistinct verses that clouds all ends of Devotion Implosion; with feather-light contributions from each on “Sleep”. Waist deep in echo, the two make it impossible to mentally separate before the gentle rhythmic backdrop gives way to a monster Sabbath-esque onslaught. There’s a similar ruse amid the Blonde Redhead-swirl of “Love Songs”, but “Sleep” is the strongest example. It’s the slowest, most sinister number from the release. Each breath is melodramatically extended for the sections between the verses and chorus, filled out at first by fuzzy octave chords and controlled feedback. It explodes for a grandiose albeit slacker finish with guitar trails lagging far behind everything else, and Klingman taking his sweet time with two of the ten or so words he utters during its entirety: “Souuuuulllll sleeeeeeepaaaaahhhhh”

The powerhouse that opens Devotion Implosion is “Morning Light”, and its massive shadow of impenetrable guitars and syrupy runoff of opaque fuzz and treble hardly guarantees it a spot in anyone’s AM playlist, but this is Gliss at its carefree noise rock best. The band subsequently encounters difficulty in distinguishing it from the hefty dose of influences on its members’ sleeves, but that attribute doesn’t mar “Morning Light” in the slightest. Its hemorrhaging crunch of lazily delivered lyrics and loose, undefined chords aren’t followed up nearly enough on Devotion, but if its counterparts are intended to ruin the early hours of those living down the hall while reminding them to pull Siamese Dream off the shelf, then job well done. - Pop Matters

Gliss is a Kate Moss biographical soundtrack; a beautiful mess caught between drugs and rock and roll; Gliss is the music you listen to in the wee hours of the morning after partying in the underbelly of a city, and are coming off a great high.

The L.A. band's second album Devotion Implosion is a short 10-song acid trip with fuzzed-out guitars and ambient vocals. Mixed by Gareth Jones (who has worked with the likes of Depeche Mode, Nick Cave and the New Puritans), the album reflects the band's musical chairs habit of switching vocals and instruments. With detached and dreamy lyrics, the album flows from one song to the next making you feel like you are lying next to Dorothy in the poppy fields of Oz.

Having already opened up for such acts as The Smashing Pumpkins and The Ravonettes, the band will easily please fans of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Editors. Currently on tour with label mates Takeover UK (who will unfortunately not be joining Gliss and The Electric Cycles in Atlanta due to illness), Gliss has put together it's own way of helping the economy with their "Stimulus Package Tour," offering budget friendly priced shows across the country. Being added by tastemaker radio stations like Seattle's KEXP and KRCW, the first single "Morning Light," beams off the record as if pulling up the shades after a night of debauchery. Lead tracks "Morning Light," "29 Acts of Love," and "Sad Eyes" could easily be found on the next Urban Outfitters compilation album. - AMB

These Los Angelenos approach their hometown's timeless decadence with a bummed-out but exhilarating rigor: Digitized romantic obsession ("I Want You"), swaggering degradation ("Innocent Eyes"), country-rock erotica ("Falling to Pieces"), and suburban Anglophilia ("Off to Bed", which drives the Cure's pop-craft down My Bloody Valentine's distortion freeway) are all adorned with a curtain of stylish guitar fuzz. Singer Martin Klingman, like the deeply textured music he creates with multi-instrumentalists David Reiss and Victoria Cecilia, voices everything with hot immediacy and sharp detail. Gliss sound wrecked - but awesomely so. - Spin Magazine

Almost two years after their debut, Love the Virgins, Gliss has returned with another album of lush shoegazed nebulae and crushing wall of squall discord, Devotion Implosion. Featuring such powerhouses as the electric shudders and bruised psychocandy melodies of “Morning Light” and the lovely, seductive ringing of “Lovers in the Bathroom,” Implosion is already on the shortlist of our favorite music of 2009 (even if we’re only three months in and the disc doesn’t officially drop until April 7th, via Cordless Recordings…), thanks to its blissed-out harmonies, crackling guitar work and detached, fractured beauty. So give your ears a treat and stream the aforementioned “Morning Light” along with the stutter-rock cool of “Anybody Inside,” and make sure to pick up Devotion Implosion next month.

Stream “Morning Light” - Web in front