Labels: Memorials of Destruction
Review by: Oli Saunders
I was expecting something harsh sounding judging from the artwork and band/album name. But Smiling Disease, made of up one guy, Oliver Moss, play simple and somber lo-fi indie. Like a less tuneful and much more unhappy Beach Fossils, everything is fairly monotonic but each song manages to offer something slightly different. Track seven, ‘Mild Detergent’ has a lovely repetitive drum beat, even simpler than The Scarecrow Frequency but just as effective, and a riff to match. I don’t personally get the same hook to the music that I do with either of the other two bands mentioned (two of my favourites I should add!), but nonetheless I am contempt to drift through with these 18 tracks and enjoy them. The album is a compilation of 6 years of Smiling Disease. Wow, the last few tracks are really good, from the Joy Division esque ‘Like Cures Like’ to the reverb on ‘Windup Merchant’ and ‘Lounger’. Ultimately there’s still something lacking but this is not far from being special.
26th August 2016