Tim Dwyer
Easily my album of the year for 2023. The blend of indie folk and new-wave / dark-wave aesthetics elevated this collection of songs from Constant Smiles. Kenneth Anger stands out, and it is simply their best work to date.
Favorite track: In My Heart.
Over the last half decade, the music collective Constant Smiles has produced a prolific output of acclaimed music, culminating in their forthcoming record Kenneth Anger, masterfully brought to life by engineer Jonathan Schenke (Parquet Courts, Liars, Dougie Pool). The group is known most recently for their much-praised debut album for SacredBones records, Paragons, an emotionally resonant offering of indie folk masterpieces that all confront the internal ways we process our struggles with intimacies, addiction and humanity—produced by Ben Greenberg.
Constant Smiles’ primary singer/songwriter Ben Jones uses the creative process as a tool for working through deeply transformative periods in his life. The band’s indie folk music lays bare this internal process, but on Kenneth Anger, the music shifts to synth pop and looks externally, examining creativity, community, ritual, and their place in the healing process. Ritual takes a primary role in the eponymous Kenneth Anger. Not only is auteur Kenneth Anger himself known for his sensorial depictions of ritual, Jones often used the films as a silent visual back drop during his songwriting sessions, a ritual that grounded the creation of the album. And while the director’s use of saturated color inspired the warm ‘80s synth style production, the director’s trailblazing spirit of authenticity also pushed Jones through his most vulnerable expression to date.
While the narrative undertones of the songs deal with fear and isolation and anxiety, the songs themselves were created through the healing process of ritual, and enriched with collaboration, community and trust. The resulting music produces a balm that can genuinely recalibrate the nervous system. The listener journeys through the depths of every track while being lifted and guided by the music’s transformative, hypnotic power and this illustrates one of the foundational accomplishments of the album. Just as a Kenneth Anger film explores the underbelly of the unconscious through often soothing proto-asmr visuals, Kenneth Anger the album conjures the underworld into a series of synth pop classics.
credits
released March 3, 2023
All songs written and produced by Constant Smiles as part of the Divine Cycle trilogy
Recorded in The Void and Speaking Mountain Studio
Engineered and Mastered by Jonathan Schenke at Studio Windows
Cover image and insert shot by Ebru Yildiz
Constant Smiles
Mike Mackey
Emma Conley - Violin - (6)
Spike Currier - Bass - (1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Lena Fjortoft - Vocals - (1, 2, 5, 7)
Blaze Bateh
Carrie Schaff
Jai Berger - Synths - (1, 2, 4, 10)
Chris Liberato
Adam Lipsky - Piano - (8)
Nicky Wetherell - Cello - (3)
Jonathan Schenke
Ryan Jewell - Drums
Will Roan
Cassandra Jenkins
Matt Addison
Taia - Vocals - (3)
Special Thanks to: Cassandra Jenkins, Katie Garcia, Kenneth Anger, Ebru Yildiz, Mikey Gunn, Joel Ford, Fred Thomas, Sam Mason, Adam Sierzputowski and Sacred Bones.
Over the last half decade, the music collective Constant Smiles has produced a prolific output of acclaimed music,
culminating in their forthcoming record Kenneth Anger, masterfully brought to life by engineer Jonathan Schenke (Parquet Courts, Liars, Dougie Pool). The group is known most recently for their much-praised debut album for Sacred Bones records, Paragons, produced by Ben Greenberg....more
Shoegaze ist die Kunst des Dröhnens, doch „Everything Is Alive“ setzt diese Elemente nur sparsam ein. Statt Hall- und Zerr-Sounds aufzutürmen, schäumt die Musik in feinen Bläschen über.
https://tortue.substack.com/i/140348114/slowdive-everything-is-alive-dead-oceans Daniel Welsch