The boys from Aussie hip hop trio BLISS N ESO take us through their upcoming seventh studio album, The Sun, track by track…
THE PROPHECY
We always like to set the tone for our albums with the dark abstract theatrical world we like to create. We want the listener to be totally immersed in our twisted imaginations and give them the feeling of “Awww shit, here we go- better strap ourselves in for this one”. The spoken word is by Aussie actor (and legend) David Fields from Two Hands, Chopper fame. Couldn’t have chosen a better voice or bigger legend to kick things off.
SEND IT
Definitely one of the most fun tracks to write and record for this album. We wanted to channel some Motown/Andersen Paak vibes here and give it a funk soul feel with the classic Bliss n Eso breakbeat drums. At the time of recording, we were already envisioning how this would translate live on stage and send the crowd nuts. This one is a crowd pleaser for sure — everyone gets involved.
OG’S (feat. ChillinIt)
This track was about bridging the gap between old school and new school. [Sydney rapper] ChillinIt jumped on stage with us at a festival a while back and we knew he would be the perfect artist to collaborate with for this track. He’s got such a smooth flow in his rhymes and is really leading the way in the Oz hip hop scene.
CADILLAC OUTTA HELL (feat. Lee Fields)
This is where we got to reignite our classic storytelling style of track. The Cadillac is the like the vessel of life that we are travelling on telling the story of how we came up in the game as artists. As you travel by the scenery changes, passengers come and go and you take wrong turns. We always want our stories to be multi-dimensional so you pick up new things each time you listen to it. We’ve taken wrong turns in our journeys, seen some wild shit on the way, but we’ve come out of it back onto greener pastures. Reconnecting with Lee Fields (who performed on our track “Friend Like You”) was the added bonus. Before this track was even conceived, Lee performed with us in Melbourne — outside the hotel was a classic Caddy which he stopped to get a photo beside. Funny how things come together.
GOOD PEOPLE (feat. Kasey Chambers)
We were working on this track at a session up the coast. By coincidence Kasey lived nearby. She would drop into the house and brought us freshly baked food she had whipped up. It didn’t take long to join the dots — Kasey was the perfect feature artist for the chorus. She is an absolute legend, not just in the music industry but just an absolute legendary human, friend and… baker. This song is about pulling through those hard times with the good people you have around you and how you can help your friends by being there for them too.
ON ONE (feat. Dizzee Rascal & Kings)
This was a really fun track to work on because we weren’t boxed in by a topic. All three MCs could flex their rhyming skills and each of the three verses sustain a double syllable rhyme pattern on the one word, all the way through. BNE have been massive Dizzee Rascal fans throughout his whole career and we connected when we were on the same line-up at a Big Day Out festival years ago. Kings on the chorus was like the cherry on top.
DADDY’S CADDY
I always imagined “Daddy’s Caddy” was like you were on a date, but it’s a dream date where you’re in a caddy flying through the air. This would be the soundtrack to this date. It’s a bit of a gangster love song.
LOST WITH YOU (feat. BOI)
Bliss and myself (Eso) were able to get really creative with the lyrics for this one – something we always like to do – painting a vivid picture on both verses. We had tried a bunch of different variations of the chorus but nothing had really hit home. Boi came into the studio and instantly lifted the track with her bubbling unfathomable energy to create something absolutely magical. The placement of production by Jon Reichardt combined with Boi’s vocals took this to a whole new realm we didn’t even think was possible. The moment the piano hits with Bois vocals I feel like I’m ice skating in space levitating over the galaxy. She is right on our level — explosive, enthusiastic and kinda crazy. She can adjust her voice to so many different ranges and styles and it was quite a process going through the various takes — she laid down so many usable options.
TELL THE WORLD THAT I’M COMING
One of our favourite songs on the album. Most rap verses are capped at 16 bars and you can get pigeonholed as it doesn’t always allow you to say what you want to say. So for this track we didn’t put a limit on how long our verses needed to be but I think we got up to 68 bars. It was an absolute treat to create this song, it allowed us to go wherever we wanted to go. The syllable practiseis ridiculous, the mental illustrations are madness and it’s a defining moment on this album for us to show the world that we are coming!
SO HAPPY (feat. SonReal)
For me (Eso), personally, it was a chance to relive the story of the day my son was born — the strength of my wife, the mixed emotions that surrounded me, the happiness of all these huge moments in my life, but also the sadness of my mother not being here to share the joys. For Bliss, I think it was that juxtaposition when you know you’re doing things that aren’t good for you but you get a lot of pleasure from it, too. SonReal relates that feeling to the passing of his father, and the emptiness that left, but the happiness that his father had brought to him. We took a different approach of having uplifting lyrics, but blended with a sombre tone in the chorus to replicate that feeling.
KNOW YOURSELF (feat. Fergus James)
We feel like this was a moment of reflection where we could go back in time and revisit moments that we cherished but didn’t exactly realise at the time. Moments that have shaped us as adults and as artists. It’s also a reminder that there’s nothing wrong with not knowing where you’re headed. It was amazing to feature Fergus, an upcoming Australian talent that has so much potential.
LIGHTHOUSE (feat. Jake Isaac)
This was the right message we wanted to leave our audience with. Nobody is going to save you but yourself. You need to be your own light in times of darkness. It was amazing to work with Jake Isaac, his voice suited the emotion of the heartfelt chorus perfectly. ■
BLISS N ESO’S ALBUM THE SUN IS OUT AUGUST 27 VIA FLIGHT DECK/MUSHROOM
By Max MacKinnon & Jonathan Notley
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