Sometimes, even when everything really, really sucks arse, it’s important to sing through it.
Which is kind of what Smile Smile‘s Jencey Hirunrusme and Ryan Hamilton did when their relationship hit a giant spiked wall of crap. The folkie twosome from Texas had been touring together as a band and as fiancés since 2005 but a few years later, things collapsed. In a Wile E. Coyote/ACME Dynamite soft of way.
So whaddyer gonna do? Create voodoo dolls and buy sharp shiny pins? Burn each other’s clothes? Rip up photos? Seek refuge with a gallon of whiskey and a best friend?
No?
What then?
Write an album together of course! Yeah, ‘cos, that MAKES SENSE.
Truth on Tape is the rather lovely and raw result. It does make sense. It’s a bittersweet mash of indie synth, piano, Hamilton’s simple, plaintive voice and Jencey’s pretty whisper harmonizing with plenty of alt-country hurtin’ and folkie-hippy honesty. It’s about two people going through a period of enormous heartbreak and singing it to - and at - each other.
It’s kind of sad, and kind of endearing at the same time. When the moods swing between heartache - “Why say ‘break up’ when we tear apart/We need new words for two broken hearts” the two sing on “Move Along Folks” - and contempt, like when Hamilton half-spits “You’re not forgiven, for what you have done…you lie, you sneak and you cheat” on “Labor of Love”, it’s unnerving and also…well, fairly universal to those of us who’ve been down Break-Up Alley.
Smile Smile’s new album Truth on Tape is out now. They’re currently opening for Bob Schneider and Steve Poltz in the US, and flying duo at The Living Room in NYC (FREE!!!) on June 12. They’ll also be at Toronto’s North By Northeast (NXNE) on June 17. Check the Myspace page to see when they’re on tour. And hey, they also play house parties. SUPER PLUS PLUS: they’ve also offered to give one lucky BSR winner a copy of the new album.
Hey, breakups can be cool too. \m/
