[Album] Bliss – Phil Madeira

Cogito February 24, 2022 0

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For decades, Phil Madeira has written poignantly about the trials and triumphs of the human heart. He reaches another creative peak with his latest release, Bliss, whose songs about intimacy, intermingled lives, and innuendo all combine to create an appropriately sunny soundtrack for the Valentine’s Day season.

The album’s title says it all—Bliss captures its creator in a joyful mood, celebrating the new love that has brought happiness and contentment to his modern moment. Inspired by songwriting heroes like The Beatles, Randy Newman, Nina Simone, and Dr. John, Bliss encompasses the full range of Madeira’s influences, from piano-driven jazz to southern soul to swampy blues. In other words, it’s an Americana album by a songwriter who helped pioneer the genre, not only as a prolific solo artist, but also via his work as Emmylou Harris‘ longtime collaborator and bandmember.

Madeira is no stranger to a finely-crafted love song. Two years earlier, he released Open Heart on Valentine’s Day 2020, filling that record with songs that explored the full arc of a relationship. Phil madeira open heart captured everything from the rush of new love to the sobering reality of a breakup, though, Bliss places its focus on the positivity generated by a happy, healthy relationship. The album marks the completion of a trilogy that also includes Open Heart and Hornet’s Nest, with the three albums chronicling a journey that includes heartbreaking loss, grief, rebirth, and the celebration of new love.

The songwriter knows his fans have come to expect that diversity from his music. Even so, he boldly emphasizes positivity on Bliss, an album that unfolds like a personal declaration of contentment from a man in love.

“I wasn’t writing [this album] thinking about the consumer,” he explains. “I was writing thinking about this woman I’m so crazy about.”

Bliss arrives just in time for Valentine’s Week celebrations, with Phil Madeira bringing together themes of love, joy, collaboration, and innovation.