Big Bliss is the hardest working band in Brooklyn, and that means a lot these days. They have a post-punk, dark wave sound that owes a debt to bands like Joy Division, Sisters of Mercy and The Fall, but they have a knack for finding streaks of light in the gloom. Singer-guitarist Tim Race talks with PureHoney.

It seems that post-punk is about to make a comeback. What do you think about that and bands like Ceremony, for instance, switching over to more of a post-punk sound?

I’d argue the comeback is in full swing and never totally disappeared post the early 00’s boom. I personally found the style when I stumbled onto Anton Corbijn’s Ian Curtis biopic “Control,” so Joy Division, rightfully, served as my introduction to post punk.

Big Bliss @ North Studios

What is your favorite part of making music?

Our favorite part hands down is songwriting. We find it thrilling to land on a new riff, a new structure, a new lyric, etc. Our approach is to write 90% of the songs in real-time together in the room and so what we walk out with after a rehearsal is a tangible representation of a few hours of focused creative work.

What’s next?

We’re psyched to be in pre-production for the first half of LP2. It’s being produced by Jonathan Schenke (Parquet Courts, The Drums, Snail Mail) across a few studios in Brooklyn. This next record is decidedly a shift from the mood of “At Middle Distance.” In a way it’s a bit brighter, though it functions as an attempt to compile the fallout from a lot of turmoil in our personal lives, a lot of loss and a lot of struggle, and hopefully in the end the record figures out how to make sense of all that and move forward. It’s the first batch of songs with our guitar player Ana Becker in the fold.

Bumblefest, with 37 bands on 6 stages for two nights, is Friday, September 13 and Saturday, September 14 in the 500 block of Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach. Admission is 18+. Doors open 7pm Friday and 5pm Saturday. Two-day Early Bee Tickets are available at BUMBLEFEST.com ~ Tim Moffatt