Shmu - Pure Bliss (2020)

Mindfully created, deeply cathartic, a dreamy and psychedelic pop odyssey by American songwriter and multi-instrumentist Shmu, co-produced by psych guru Vinyl Williams.

'Pure Bliss' had always been an unfinished album sitting on the sidelines, collecting dust, whilst Samuel Chown (known as Shmu) was busy releasing other material as Shmu, Zorch & through a multitude of other projects, as well as extensively touring North America and other parts of the world. Some songs found on the album had demos ranging back to 2004, during the original conception of Shmu as a project, when Samuel Chown (aka) Shmu was just 17. The bulk of the material however was borne of an intense writing & recording period from 2014-2015, a musical diary of sorts, chronicling Chown's struggles with intense anxiety & sleep disorders. Much of the vibe and feeling of the material is a reflection on, as well as a reaction to this uncertain & strange time during his life.

It was just never the time to put out the record or take the time to finish the demos until showing a batch of the material to multi-instrumentalist & visionary Lionel Williams of Vinyl Williams in summer of 2018, of which Chown would eventually become the drummer. It was clear that Williams was the right & perhaps only person to help Chown turn the demos into finished products. During a focused 2 day session, all the drums were re-recorded for 15 songs followed by another couple of wks worth of time spent mixing, mastering, re-amping & in a couple of cases, Williams adding parts to the songs. Williams being the only other musical collaborator across this 60 minute shoegaze/dream pop epic.

This album chronicles Chown's journeys from the beginnings of finding his "Voices" (an early cut from 2004), made as a teenager, to the most recent song 'Tempera Madonna'; a journey that literally spans more than 15 years, hinting at a sort of birth, death, re-birth cycle all happening before our eyes.