Smileswithteeth takes some chances on this self-titled album, but not before reminding us of the reasons we’ve been following the artist for thirteen years. Yes, the career of Gabriel Gutierrez has now become a teenager! Smileswithteeth has been solid since the start, when Here established a template of warm beats and electronics. This year, the artist spreads his wings.
We start in “19999.” No, that’s not a typo. Electronics churn like a changing radio dial, waiting to settle on a song. And soon they do, with the album’s first single, “Radio Feel Better,” a disco rhythm emerging from the shadows of the old century to inject itself into the new. There’s a bit of Daft Punk in these grooves, giving the electro-leaning track a real shot at crossover success: a summer classic in the making. As a child says, “Make me feel better like you always do,” we recall the child of “Roomies;” Gutierrez has always exuded a sense of childlike innocence.
“vocstl” is a change of pace, set in the center of the album: an ambient piece characterized by lapping waves and bubbling synth. Later in the set, “ILU” will continue this thread, embedding dialogue in a buttery dish. The water itself returns in the middle of “川” as the rush of a wave bisects the percussive instrumental, and again in the second minute of “Black Sea.”
There is some singing on the album, buried at first in the humble vocals of “So Clear.” ~trinity~ appears on “Running Out of Time,” which recalls indietronica, proceeding from beeps ‘n’ beats to rapid percussion and stuttering lines. “I Could Never” offers a brush of guitars, foreshadowing things to come. On “POV,” Smileswithteeth channels Postal Service, a duo that existed only for a halcyon moment. The left turn occurs in “Bleeding Out in the Valley,” an all-out rock tune with distorted guitars and a lo-fi vibe; it seems beamed in from another universe. As much as we like the track on its own, it doesn’t fit the timbre of its neighbors, while the timbre of the subsequent “Black Sea” does, and the closing “HFMB” successfully combines both influences.
Smileswithteeth is branching out, as teenagers are wont to do: experimenting with different styles, flirting with radio success. But at the same time, Smileswithteeth is a radio fan, continuing to turn the dial to the left and right, searching for foreign frequencies in late-night grooves. To lose a tooth at the age of the child on the cover is to anticipate a new tooth, and on Smileswithteeth we can hear this tooth growing. Smileswithteeth seems poised for a breakthrough; the only question is, “pop or electronic?” (Richard Allen)
a closer listen 