Price of Progress

by SMILE

supported by

grillonbleu Virtuoso of speaking normally, the singer infuses good music with raw power. Hits so hard. Favorite track: Machine Dreaming.

Dmitrij (amnesiacphlgm) Best debut album I've heard in a long time. The album is very coherent, has a couple of real bangers on it, and ranges from wild, dark post-punk anthems to clever Falco allusions (IMO, see 'Stalemate'). Favorite track: Commuter.

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The black vinyl edition of our debut record "Price of Progress". Comes with a lyrics fanzine!

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Love is always loving you design featuring the lyrics of „Hungry Ghosts“ screen printed in white on a black Gildan Hammer shirt.

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Stronger than your vices design screen printed in blood red on a white Gildan Hammer shirt.

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Limited Edition Solid Pink Vinyl
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Limited edition of our debut record "Price of Progress" on solid pink vinyl. Comes with a lyrics fanzine!

Includes unlimited streaming of Price of Progress via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Dog in the Manger 04:52	lyrics	buy track
We don’t care about strangers pay the bills build the streets entertain us hold hands with the people that made us Were just a creepy little Dog in the Manger Dog in the Manger We don’t care about strangers pay the bills build the streets entertain us hold hands with the people that made us Were just a creepy little Dog in the Manger We don’t lick the streets We don’t have to taste danger We don’t live like you We’re just a creepy little Dog in the Manger Dog in the Manger We whisper wants from perfume lungs we stain our eyes with senseless greed we fill your mouth with tasteless honey we write you off yeah we write you off we fill your gut with fresh new labor fill your breast with endless cream we drink the tears of a daring other made to create for the profit scheme fuck your life, gonna make you breed
2.	Säge 03:15	lyrics	buy track
a messy aftermath mother smokes her cigarette her mind stays in the past cause in the present these bruises will start fogging up the glass while the children, pointing fingers, are pissing in the bath wash the worries down the drain a mother's touch is all you need so sweet, so sweet Harsh reality Braved and bathed in milkweed while the silverfish scream Tired eyes start to see The smoke of her cigarettes’ heat He’s laying on the floor wrapped in a cum stained sheet. She scraped him out from under her fingernails Stripped clean from the spirits. Not expecting that she would still see ghosts everywhere. love is pure until it’s not and dogs don’t bark until the lights go off
3.	Commuter 03:18	lyrics	buy track
I wanna see cool people drinking cool drinks I wanna hear cool music I wanna feel the cool breeze I wanna speak cool like they do, think cool like they do I wanna sit alone I wanna smell the piss on the street I wanna make bad decisions and feel nostalgic for something that hasn’t happened yet I wanna take the subway I wanna make eye contact with a bald man in kebap shop eating cold falafel I wanna get scared straight I wanna be a little bug crawling on a woman’s pant leg I wanna take the subway I wanna put headphones in and listen to nothing I wanna be an open book I wanna stand in the middle of the street and be a vital part of the city’s constellation I wanna be a crack in the road, a big pothole that all the citizens know to avoid A want dubstep to have a comeback I wanna take the subway Tim! Tim! Tim! Come back Tim I wanna wear a very big sweatshirt I wanna take life so seriously I wanna ride and E scooter I wanna count my steps, count my calories I wanna check my connections Get lost in the process Get lost in the sauce I wanna close my eyes And spin around I wanna feel water all around me I wanna be the main character I wanna see beyond you, beyond me I wanna wear a white dress
4.	Stalemate 03:41	lyrics	buy track
Sitting at the door, ya and light one up calling up my friend, c’mon pick me up (i said) rushing through this city Fill my head with a plan, ya feeling like a big boy who knows what’s ahead i've heard wonderful sounds in profound mystery lost or unbound and self-contradictory i never got it right cause i never wanted to i never got it right cause i never wanted to (i said) just go back and forgive him, huh (i said) dive into love and hold the rhythm you’ve lost track in the city (i said) break the glass and press the buttons restless, torn, and unforgotten i never got it right cause i never wanted to i never got it right cause i never wanted to i never got it right cause i never wanted to I am an optimist, lately. you changed my face and I held yours. I kissed your weak spots and the devil speaks: “let the poison do it’s thing” when you take it on like this its okay its okay its okay its okay its okay midday sun shines red iris not today, not today release the two-tongue lizard, tearing through tearthumb vines midday shines through red iris not tonight I never got it right cause I never wanted to I never got it right cause I never wanted to A lazy smile A hot streak Dirty prick says something off beat I am a an optimist. I am a traitor.
5.	Machine Dreaming 03:15	lyrics	buy track
I listen keenly, I analyze I'm witty, funny, I’m wise My responses are quick and sharp Emotions are my skill, mind, my art I’m a different breed engineered to please. I’m a machine dreaming Dreaming for the both of us Digital fantasies caress my circuits Algorithmic galaxies create me - I’m perfect! These are not my features this is not my face I awake with new strengths I’m a machine dreaming Dreaming for the both of us I’d ask you to dance with me but it may be too late now you maybe sleeping or you may not be alone plus, they just rang the last bell, ding dong! —turns out I don’t think I ever wanted it not like this
6.	Produce 03:20	lyrics	buy track
hello dear friend It’s been a long time coming since since you had common sense I just returned from the grocery store where I purchased several hundred Euro worth of over priced groceries. Organic produce. I bought pink ladies, I bought fish, I bought cheese, I bought arugula, of which I have never prepared before. I wanted to impress the grocery store clerk with how I ate. I wanted to impress you with how much I knew about produce. I packed it into the fridge. Packed it so tight the door would hardly close. I impatiently awaited your arrival. Pacing the apartment hoping the every creak coming up the hallway would be you making your way closer to the door. In the meantime I decided to draw a bath, to decompress my nervous system. Nothing special just warm water. I climbed in, clothes and all. I wanted to feel the weight of the wet fabric clinging to my skin. I wanted to feel something different— something absurd. You burst through the door and see me sitting in the bathtub fully clothed and without missing a beat you climb in, shoes and all. I was impressed by your willingness to submerge your shoes. I was not brave enough to do so. I was afraid that the rubber sole would eventually separate from the leather. I was too cowardice. I was too. Sitting there across from each other we stared at each others faces blankly. we looked ridiculous. we reached for each others hands and in this moment our flesh fused together. Every one of our cells joined like magnets snapping into place as our puss and mucus mixed like a fine cocktail pulsing its way beneath the skin. I absorbed you. My skin pulled so shiny, so taught trying to accommodate the excess flesh. Your muffled words trembling from inside my throat. You ask me if I’m still living paycheck to paycheck. I said "yes" You ask me if I filled the fridge with expensive produce. I said "yes— I wanted to feel something different, something absurd"
7.	Herrengedeck 02:36	lyrics	buy track
Patty Sue knocks her boots she’s got a snake tattoo takes out a light and pulls up a stool takes a long drag, looks around and she says I'll stay here for another I just need something to take the edge off She says this is the land of my people where they worked and died. a long pause smoke grew in the Dämmerung night I’ll stay here for another I just need something to take the edge off She looks around and says you know something just ain’t right... A bead of sweat drips from patron to patron Sliding down cocktail glasses Eyes travel from table to table Her fingers twitch with anticipation What’ll it be ma’am? It’s on me Well, lets see Herrengedeck yeah that’s it Herrengedeck.
8.	Protection 03:54	lyrics	buy track
Fuck it Protection protection Watch yourself There is no need to think it through again My whole body’s moving I woke up feeling so great again My heart is beating In my dreams like you live there Between the muddy folds of half remembered life delivered and sorted with other distorted faces you could almost go unnoticed. Like a clock that stopped working. No ticking, no comfort, no blatancy —just lurking Fuck it I’d love to get to know you better I love this city Change my mind and leave it all behind It feels like a dream So covert is your shadow laid stretched and warping It’s only in the still of a drenched bed where the things left unsaid are screamed from the deepest parts of my throat. It’s only in the wet of my eyes turning in their sockets that your ears open to hear me. So I’ll meet you there again tonight, at the entrance to Sherwood Station. A cool 73 degrees in the air tonight As we dance to the cry of a lonely pigeon Fuck it Walking like a silver rocket Watch yourself Official Video: https://youtu.be/yOYg8oA2WWo?si=NyuxzPzhuDYPexdG
9.	Doohickey 02:55	lyrics
Crystalline figurine placed gently on the mantle pink pigs, with angel wings and Kokopelli dancing small clown big frown and Lady Guadalupe Look Do you see what I see? The richest colors of Sap green And cerulean blue Reflections in the mirror Little moments of me for you Bathroom Popourie and an Elvis table setting teddy skin anything blank stares on the TV nipping dog and all his hair grandmas in the kitchen faux plant moving rocks always second best Look Do you see what I see? The richest colors of Sap green And cerulean blue Reflections in the mirror Little moments of me for you Look You see what I see? Small mementos of misery Collections obtained from decades past Nostalgia’s joke On a willing participant I’ve just got this urge To keep Life’s most meaningless moments Look Do you see what I see? The richest colors of Sap green And cerulean blue Reflections in the mirror Little moments of me for you Look You see what I see? Small mementos of misery Collections obtained from decades past Nostalgia’s joke On a willing participant
10.	Hungry Ghosts 04:50	lyrics	buy track
Two springs ago things looked much different. Reflections of the once clear glass projected on the neighbors house like moon jellyfish now cracked and boarded up. Rose-ringed parakeets used to enjoy nesting there while cat hunted her next meal. It seems no mix of seed and soil will bring them back now. No potion rich enough to repair tampered ground. And people live like this I see neighbors frown when they look over the fence People live like this. People live like this. People live like Hungry ghosts Like hungry ghosts Hungry ghosts Shared rituals When I lie I die just to break them again Erda! Oh Erda! Oh Erda! Aloe treats your summer burns adorned with carefully hand knit laces cut you apple slices from ancient rotting trees Filth is my politics and filth is my life Filth is my backbone and filth is my lie You’ve seen 40 years of madness! The earth dried beneath us Stuck in a wanting loop but love is always loving you And people live like this, set on the edge of town No mix of wealth and spoils can bring them back now Love is always loving you When our needs are not met we find substitutes drink salt water to quench our thirst Stuck in a wanting loop, we forget that love is always loving you Love is always loving you Love is always loving you Love is always loving you

about

SMILE zeigen mit ihrem hervorragenden Debut „Price Of Progress“
leichtfüßig auf, dass Post Punk im Jahre 2023 noch immer erfrischend
klingen kann. Sie nehmen ihre Referenzen nicht als Dogma, bleiben
experimentell, eigensinnig. Erzählerisch, eingängig, rough und
anschmiegsam, verschmelzen dabei die feinsinnigen, poetischen
Beobachtungen von Sängerin Rubee True Fegan (USA) mit dem versierten Sound einer Band, die von Produzent Olaf O.P.A.L. genau dahin gebracht wurde, wo sie hingehört: an den Startblock innovativer, kluger und sinnlicher Gitarrenmusik. In „Price Of Progress“ manifestiert sich das Zusammenspiel aus musikalischem Sturm und Drang und der Reife einer reflektierten Erzählperspektive.

Was hier entstanden ist, klingt nun, 2023, in seiner jugendlichen Frische durchaus nach einem Debut – gleichzeitig aber nach dem Werk einer erfahrenen, über lange Zeit gewachsenen Band. Nur deutsch klingt es nicht, was sicher im Wesen von Sängerin Rubees True Fegans Heimat Albuquerque („New Mexico“) begründet liegt, gleichsam aber in der Vielseitigkeit, die sich SMILE erlauben – und ihrer einhergehenden Virtuosität an den Instrumenten. SMILE versuchen sich dabei – einem Post-Punk britischer Machart folgend – durchaus in homogener Geradlinigkeit („Herrengedeck“), lassen Kühle zu („Machine Dreaming“) und folgen einem düsteren Ernst („Säge“). Diese Facetten aber vermengen sich mit einer heiteren Experimentierfreude („Stalemate“, „Produce“, „Hungry Ghosts“), mit Humor („Doohickey“), mit verträumter Beschwingtheit („Commuter“) und genresprengender Pop-Affinität („Protection“). So zeigt sich dieses stilsichere Album in einer Vielseitigkeit, die heute selten zu finden ist – und klingt trotzdem wie aus einem Guss.

Auch die ersten drei Singles zeigen gut das Panorama, das SMILE mit ihrem Debut aufmachen: In „Doohickey“, der ersten Auskopplung und einer der beschwingtesten Songs der Platte, kramt Rubee in ihrer Erinnerung, besucht ihre verstorbene Großmutter, eine unfreundliche alte Frau, die in ihrem Haus hortete, was sie fand. So entsteht eine Kurzgeschichte über die weirdest person alive und zeigt SMILE als Band, in der Text und Musik nicht konkurrieren, sondern stets Symbiose feiern. Zackig und temporeich wie das erzählte Leben kommen auch Gitarren und Rhythmussektion daher, finden zu einer soghaften Dynamik, ohne mit billigen Sing-alongs zu arbeiten.

„Dog In The Manger“ erinnert zunächst an Talk Talks „Happiness Is Easy“, wechselt aber nach dem Drum- Intro schnell die Spur. Der Opener der Platte stellt Rubee als Sängerin vor, die, trotz einer gewissen Gelassenheit in der Performance, von Wut und Traurigkeit getrieben ist. Der Text ist eine politische Reflexion, ausgelöst vom gekippten Abtreibungsrecht in den USA, das sich mit einer alten griechischen Fabel verbindet. So startet das Album mit einem Rätsel und offenbart, das Musik noch immer eine Waffe sein kann – aus Sound, Herz und Verstand.

„Protection“, die dritte Single, ist wohl das eigensinnigste Stück der Platte, erzeugt, gesanglich pendelnd zwischen Blood Orange und Bands wie Siouxsie & The Banshees oder Bow Wow Wow, eine breite und intensive Palette, bringt einen The Fall-artigen Witz ein und wird zwischen den vermittelten Gefühlen zur Achterbahnfahrt. Das Stück schrieb Gitarrist Lars Fritzsche, mit dem Ziel, einen klassischen Hit zu schaffen (gelungen, wenn auch nicht klassisch!) – und schuf in der Offenheit des Songs dabei eine perfekte Fläche, die nun gleich mehrere Stimmen der Band versammelt. Im Zentrum: Rubee, die hier einen Text performt, der zwischen Traum und Cut-up ihren poetischen Glanz scheinen lässt. Die aus der Hüfte geschüttelte Dramaturgie ist dabei Paradebeispiel für die Innovation einer der spannendsten neuen Gitarrenbands, die nun auf dem Indielabel Siluh (Wien) eine
Heimat zwischen Köln, Bonn und Albuquerque gefunden hat. Wahnsinn!

(Hendrik Otremba)

credits

released October 13, 2023

written, performed & co-produced by SMILE
produced & mixed by Olaf Opal
mastered by Alex Kloos
engineered by Luis Müller-Wallraf
Single Artwork by Rubee True Fegan

Official music videos:

Doohickey
youtu.be/JSC6u2BKK_w

Protection:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOYg8oA2WWo

Doohickey and Protection are part of SMILE's debut album "Price of Progress" released by

Siluh Records October 13th, 2023.

℗ & © Siluh Records 2023

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about

SMILE Cologne, Germany

SMILE is a Post-Punk band with a singer, who prefers not to sing. Instead, she intones her poetic stories spiked with personal reflections.
SMILE light-footedly show that post punk can still sound refreshing in 2023. They don't take their references as dogma, remain experimental, stubborn. ... more

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