“One of many craziest issues about getting older,” Charly Bliss singer Eva Hendricks has mentioned, “is rising away from the belongings you did if you had been younger(er) and silly(er).” Over the band’s previous two albums and a handful of EPs, Hendricks has astutely chronicled these younger, silly experiences: falling in love with a jerk, getting dumped in your birthday, operating your self ragged with youthful ambition. Eternally, the Brooklyn band’s third album, pulls off a formidable feat: In a few of their greatest, most bold pop songs, they faucet into these moments of emotional overload whereas infusing them with the sense of perspective that’s gained from rising up somewhat.
On their first two albums, Charly Bliss balanced sweetness and angst, whilst their sound turned from the tightly coiled pop-rock of their debut towards the moody, new-wave synth pop of its follow-up. Hendricks has typically talked about the Josie and the Pussycats soundtrack as a key inspiration, and there’s greater than somewhat Letters to Cleo and the Breeders in Charly Bliss’ DNA. Eternally doesn’t sacrifice grit however a daring, vivid pop sound dominates. The serrated guitars of “I Don’t Know Something” and “I’m Not Useless” are a throughline to the band’s indie-rock roots. However squint, and the glowing “Again There Now” and slow-burning “Right here Comes the Darkness” aren’t far off from Carly Rae Jepsen B-sides; the refrain of the explosive “Calling You Out” goals for stadium rafters. Hendricks’ self-examination, too, is heightened—and alongside self-incriminating songs about delusional crushes (“Tragic”) and selecting mindless fights along with your lover (“Calling You Out”), there are odes to the thrill of recent love (“Final First Kiss”) and even to the love shared amongst her bandmates (“Ready For You”).
Hendricks is probably funniest when singing about approaching maturity whereas being a touring indie musician. On “I Don’t Know Something,” she wonders what it means to promote out, about whether or not “as ’90s rock revivalists/We’re simply too late.” It’s not precisely a ubiquitous downside, however she is aware of easy methods to make it common: When she sings, “You guess on your self and also you lose daily,” it would resonate with any strivers and dreamers staring down a possible international recession, not simply those ready on measly Spotify payouts. On the swaying “I’m Not Useless,” Hendricks sings jealously of her boyfriend’s septuagenarian dad: “His life’s extra enjoyable and extra fulfilling than mine,” she sighs. “If I’m a rockstar, I’m not doing it proper.” However she turns hopeful within the refrain, as the entire band cranks up a traditional loud-quiet dynamic to cathartic impact. Perhaps on the finish, she’ll want she’d “fucked up a minimum of twice as a lot and had like double the enjoyable”—however hey, because the tune’s title argues, a minimum of we’ve nonetheless received time.