Album Review

Gliss – Devotion Implosion

• 2nd Nov 2009

‘Morning Light’, which opens this second LP from Gliss, sets the scene for an album that combines garage rock loudness with abundant deft pop hooks. The LA-based trio throw up plenty of gems this outing, and justify their gradually growing fanbase on these shores.

Gliss have a powerful asset in frontlady Victoria Cecilia, whose seductive, trashy vocals prolifically hit melodies that stay with you, while the distortion-bathed production keeps everything nice and dirty. Tracks like ’29 acts of love’ and ‘lovers in the bathroom’ particularly exhibit beautifully anguished vocal performances and angular riffage with a stripped, garage rock vibe, while elsewhere, say in the psychadelia of ‘Sleep’, there are echoes of shoegaze. It’s this variety that keeps ‘Devotion Implosion’ from grating at any point through its modest ten tracks.