‘We’re Not Stuck In Any Box’: Bliss n Eso Reflect On Their Expansive New Album, ‘The Moon (The Dark Side)’

Today, Australian hip-hop veterans Bliss n Eso have dropped their second album of the year.

The Moon (The Dark Side) was announced back in May, just one month after hitting #1 on the ARIA Australian Albums Chart with their eighth album, The Moon (The Light Side).

The group kicked off the new album campaign with Chemical Heart (Geed Up), sampling Grinspoon and rapping over the beloved Aussie rock song, continuing to showcase their versatility.

For their latest effort, Bliss n Eso looked inward and, more importantly, outward. They focused on earth and space, while circling back to tell stories born from home.

From freestyling at Michael Gudinski's house to securing some iconic samples, the journey to the dark side is sonically and emotionally rich for Bliss n Eso. A wholly unique outing, The Moon (The Dark Side) is the effortless sequel to its sibling album.

“Albums are like movies to us, and this new one is the epic sequel to the album we dropped earlier this year with THE MOON (THE LIGHT SIDE),” Bliss n Eso explained, “Where we take the listener deeper into space and time on a wild ride with us. Get ready... cuz it’s time to orbit to the dark side of the moon!”

To celebrate the release of The Moon (The Dark Side), Bliss n Eso have dug deep into the themes and behind-the-scenes of the album, offering an in-depth track-by-track exploration of their artistry.

Bliss n Eso – The Moon (The Dark Side) Track By Track

Tale Of Pale Blue Dot (Part 1)

Bliss: The first photo that was ever taken of humanity was from the Hubble space probe. [The probe] was sent out, flying out of the galaxy, passing Pluto. At the last minute before it was about to go out of radio range, they turned the cameras back and took a photo of Earth. It was the first time in history that humanity had seen itself from the outside – the enormity of space and what we are actually in.

It was an earth-shattering moment, but it put a lot of things in context. Bliss n Eso have always been about peace, love, unity, and that positive spirit. This leads perfectly into summing that all up from this one image, which is called “Pale Blue Dot”.

Home (feat. Dizzy Wright)

Bliss: We had done a song with Dizzy Wright for his record, and we thought, “This is so dope, let’s flip it and make it our own.” We were trying to figure out what would sound good on it; we always loved ‘Porcelain’ by Moby. I didn’t know if we were going to be allowed to use it, but…if you don’t try, you never know. We took the gamble. We made it, we sent it to Moby – he said yes.

Chemical Heart (GEED UP) feat. Grinspoon

Eso: We’ve personally loved that song for a very long time. You have to remember why you love a song, why you fell in love with a song. This [then] came with a nice, classic pace.

Bliss: It is in the history books as a Top Ten song, forever. We always loved it because Grinspoon had a sampled break in it, a drum break loop, which is very rare for rock. It reminded us of boom bap, and the guitar lick was dope as hell.

Our drummer knew their drummer. We hit him up several years ago now…their manager had to crawl under his house to find an old box of CD-ROMs to find the multi-track recording to then digitise and send to us. We had all the stems to work with; we actually had it for a while, we tried writing to it, but it wasn't quite right.

Sometimes you overthink things. Topics-wise, we went a little astray on the first draft. But [we realised] all it needed for it to work was to put the beat on top, speed it up a little, and rap. The chorus is already magic, then you’ve got DJs at the end cutting up Phil Jamieson’s - a legend of the game - vocal.

Reach The Heavens (feat. Benny Morrell)

Eso: This was the one that had to be worked [out]. With other ones, we’re just free-flowing and it just happens, but sometimes when you need to make it the best it can be…just keep writing.”

Bliss: This is one of my favourites with Benny. Sometimes when Macka and I try to write a hook for another singer to sing, it doesn’t work because we’re not the singer. Benny just laid it down. He sang something which led to us beginning to freestyle. This came at the very end of a session we were about to give up on – we put the chorus together in about 15 minutes.

My Gang

Eso: It brings nostalgic feelings of growing up…first time dancing in the club, learning to shake for the first time. I remember DJ Izm coming out of nowhere to start shimmying with me as well. He led me onto the dancefloor to let loose in a dance club environment, and I remember this type of beat banging in the background. So many amazing memories with this kind of production, we just had fun.

Be OK

Eso: Groups have a “sound.” With Bliss n Eso, you’re always going to get the message we bring to the table, but sonically, you don’t know what we’re about to come up with next. We have a fan base that is ready on the front lines – that’s a whole different type of fan base to me. That’s what has allowed us longevity because we’re not stuck in any box. We went places [musically] and didn’t go back.

23 ‘Til Infinity

Bliss: There was something about it [the original]. It was just underground, absolute heat, but it happened organically. It wasn’t a commercial hit, but it’s huge – any real hip hop head knows it’s the OG.

This was another one where it’s like, we don’t know Souls of Mischief. This is one of the biggest hip hop records of all time; everyone knows this song, so who are we to come and update this track? But it happened, and it’s just such an amazing feeling.

I feel honoured, blessed and privileged to be able to flip that song up and have their blessing to do it. It’s a testament to them, to hip hop; to what we grew up on, and now to show it to so many fans in our collective who wouldn’t know the original.

Your Mother Loves It

Eso: Let me get one thing clear to all the mums: we wouldn’t be here without you! This was made late at night style, at Michael Gudinski’s house in Mount Macedon. We have done some amazing projects up there, and a lot of the time, it came simply from freestyling.

Bliss: Our first live shows were in the year 2000, so we’ve been performing live for 24 years now. Our fanbase has grown with us. Those fans have kids now! The kids come to the shows now.

Come My Lady (feat. Ekoh)

Bliss: This was the first time we’ve had Ekoh on a track of ours. We had brought him on tour with us for the Flying Colours tour last year. We’ve known him from touring back in the day in America; I think he was a big fan of ours, and we’ve just stayed homies for ages. It’s crazy to think that just after we finished getting the clearance for this, the lead singer of Crazy Town passed away. It’s super sad.

Eso: The song is a classic. There are songs that hit the radio worldwide that may not be hip hop, but you can tell everything in the production is inspired by it. We are blessed to be able to take such a cool song, do our thing and revamp it.

Something’s Gotta Give (feat. Benny Morrell)

Bliss: We love our James Brown. It’s got those elements of ‘This Is A Man’s World’, it’s got that sound to it. This was another of those hooks that came really quickly with Benny. We always write the hooks first, so we know where we’re going with the song. It’s just got that organic soul to it.

Tale Of Pale Blue Dot (Part 2)

Bliss: This is the sum of that photograph, the first photograph that was taken from that distance, showing Earth and humanity. It sums up this perspective that we have from looking back at our planet, every single person you’ve ever known. Every single human that’s ever lived. Every war, every emperor, every superstar, every artist. Everyone in the history of humanity has been on this little dock in space.

This beautifully sums up showing the errors of our ways, but also painting how special and lucky we are to be on this beautiful little island floating in space. There’s a message in there, taking the listener on the journey. It ties in so well with the moon theme: the space, the galaxy, bringing people through this wild ride and leaving them on this beautiful, positive note at the end.

The Moon (The Dark Side) is out now via Flight Deck/Mushroom Music. Check out the album here.