Boris - Smile Review
by Mark Hensch
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Sometimes a Smile can stretch across continents. It takes a stunning amount of raw emotion and power in conveying a heartfelt message across borders, and on this, the band's umpteenth studio album, Boris does it in spades. The cathartic psychedelic sludge on offer here drifts like neon colored clouds from the band's homeland of Japan all the way to the ends of the Earth. Not a shred of personal resonance is lost in this journey, making the album a deeply moving collection of songs standing above culture, language, and tradition.
As if showing their shiny, white teeth for the first time, Smile sees Boris fusing arena rock theatrics, J-Pop sensibilities, crushing sludge, hypnotic drone, and mind-altering psychedelia into a sound all their own. Along the way the entire emotional spectrum---from exuberant joy all the way down into mournful despair---is illuminated.
Smile waves the flag high for dynamic songwriting which is still brilliantly catchy. This is instantly noticeable on even a song as sparse as album opener "Flower Sun Rain." Though at first the band's trademark wall of fuzzy, warm sound, this exquisitely powerful PYG cover soon morphs into a sad, poignant ballad that sounds like a Japanese Beatles dropping several thousand hits of acid. As softly chanted vocals duel with barely-there percussion and chords with all the weight of air on a sunny day, the band soon kicks things into high gear with some slow, mournful psychedelia which flat out rips. This might be the most simultaneously catchy AND heavy song of the year.
The raw ferocity of "BUZZ-IN," meanwhile, ratchets the album's intensity up a notch. The diesel-fueled speedster on offer here races by like a muscle car before burning itself out on roaring sing-alongs and fast-paced guitars.
"Laser Beam" is cut from exactly the same cloth, a thunderous percussion assault leading the charge for white-hot guitar licks and furiously joyous riffing. Breathlessly wild, this song careens down a path of barnstorming mania before a crash landing into an abruptly quiet passage of reflective acoustic guitars.
"Statement" smolders with delirious happiness, its crushing textures expanding senses with squealing guitars and cooing vocals which redefine spontaneous guitar heroism. With riffs that will stay stuck in your head for days, this "Statement" unites headbanging metalheads, pop fanatics, and picky hipsters with every element of its ecstatic sound.
Album highlight "My Neighbor Satan" takes things in a completely different direction, wafting in on shimmering chords right out of the shoegaze genre. These lush sounds softly twinkle, gently powerful vocals ebb-and-flow in time, creating an atmosphere of reflection and harmony. As if this were not stellar enough, the band launches into heart-stopping walls of sound which sound like the Smashing Pumpkins' James Iha on steroids.
"KA RE HA TE TA SA KI-No Ones Grieve" rocks despite its unwieldy song title. Buzzing washes of sound slowly coalesce into a Big Bang of sound, the fireworks display on offer here being one of the most gripping things on an album full of them. Otherworldly in tone, this cosmic rocker melds the band's trippy aesthetic with a tender outpouring of emotion not previously present in most of the band's sound.
The untitled cut ending my promo version of Smile (I am missing a song thanks to Southern Lord's strange new promo policies) is nothing short of a musical masterpiece. Boris fuses seemingly random pieces of ambient drone into a hypnotic construct both sparse and chilling. It also shows an utter mastery of sound---Boris creates a tapestry of noise so memorable it is frightening. Ending without warning, this smoldering cut makes Smile an ironic album, perhaps less happy than its title would imply.
Charming and upbeat at some points while being stark and sad at others, Smile is a charged album packed with passion regardless of which musical genre is on offer. Though there is not a single English lyric on Smile, the music itself physically speaks volumes more than the majority of albums I have heard in my native tongue this year. This is definitely one album that will be in my 2008 best-of list, and it will surely bring a Smile to music fans of every stripe.
Boris' Smile
1. Flower Sun Rain (PYG Cover)
2. BUZZ-IN
3. Laser Beam
4. Statement
5. My Neighbor Satan
6. KA RE HA TE TA SA KI-No Ones Grieve
7. Untitled
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Boris - Smile
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