Moonflowers by Constant Smiles

Much like the night-blooming flora the album takes its name from, Constant Smiles’ Felte debut Moonflowers is the product of slow, largely unseen patterns of growth. The New York-based band forged a strange and fascinating path all their own on the way here, one that has traipsed through various home bases, an exceptionally fluid lineup, and wild changes to their sound on almost every entry in a small kingdom of stylistically restless releases. Though the band gradually grew from existing as an amorphous collection of highly conceptual ideas and experiments into something easier to grasp, every step of their unlikely route has led to Moonflowers, a subtle masterpiece of internally-born ambient pop.

Constant Smiles was formed in 2009 by Ben Jones when he was living in Martha’s Vineyard. From the beginning, the project was as underground as is possible in the digital age. Every live show was dramatically unlike the last, as were the frequently-released, self-realized recordings. Jones was joined by different collaborators in versions of the band that manifested as noisy soundscapes, scenic chamber pop, or icy coldwave-adjacent synth-pop, often released on opaquely-designed, ultra-limited albums named after favorite film directors. These early phases captured the curiosity of a small but fixated group of fans worldwide, and the way Constant Smiles moved through the weird trajectory of their first decade made them feel like a closely guarded secret happening outside of the machinery of the music industry. A move to New York and a few records on Sacred Bones resulted in more people becoming aware of the band, but Jones and friends remained in constant flux. True to his d.i.y. roots, by the time one record was released, Jones had written a new set of songs and recalibrated the sound of the band from dismal electronic darkness to naturalistic dream pop.

The great unlocking of the Constant Smiles puzzlebox happened when the band solidified into a permanent core lineup when drummer/vocalist Nora Knight joined Jones and longtime bassist Spike Currier in the end of 2022. After years of being defined by visceral change and inconsistency, this stabilized personnel shifted the sound, emotional coloration, and impact of the band. A more intuitive kind of chemistry overwrote the searching energy of earlier output. With Knight and Currier providing counterpoint and structure to Jones’ always percolating creative drive, the songs became more streamlined and direct. The anxious buzzing that had been present in even the slowest songs uncoiled a little bit, and the band took on a tone that was more intentional, even observational. Still airy and dream-like, the trio version of Constant Smiles that produced Moonflowers has cleared away the clouds of vaguity and uncertainty that could make earlier versions of the band feel harder to connect with. Emotions once on display but always at a distance are now exhibited clearly, spoken plainly, and open to consideration by anyone who encounters them.

Each of the songs flow and interconnect in an emotional fabric, one that’s hard to see clearly through but still lets in light. “Allowed to Be” flutters, with passages of pensive acoustic guitar and uneasy violin opening up into choruses that shimmer. The gentle harmonies and the exhale of soft-touch cymbal crashes mirror the journey of self-acceptance that happens as the song plays on. Knight sings lead on the bright, spring morning folk tune “Harriman,” another place where the band starts with a straightforward arrangement that grows into something quietly enormous. The gradual build from the unassuming guitar and spare plinks of piano that begin the song to an orchestral patchwork by its end is a dizzying thing, leaving us wondering how we got there. Like the best moments of foundational albums by Talk Talk or Nick Drake, the lived-in majesty of Adrianne Lenker’s Songs/Instrumentals or Jim O’Rourke’s excursions into chamber pop, Moonflowers reaches its dynamic swells naturally, almost subliminally. It’s a sound that past Constant Smiles releases hinted at but never fully achieved.

Even with the band’s metamorphosis into this new, understated form, they’ve still held onto their essence. The spirit of collaboration that guided them in earlier forms is alive alongside the newly locked-in lineup, as they’re joined on various songs by friends old and new. Cassandra Jenkins sings duet on the lush closing track “Time Measured in Moonflowers,” New York composer and multi-instrumentalist Shazad Ismaily contributes synth and guitar textures throughout the album, members of tour-mates Idle Ray stop by, and multiple members of the Constant Smiles collective dating back to their beginnings all add to the layers of restrained orchestration. Along with production from Katie Von Schleicher, engineer Phil Weinrobe (Hand Habits, Tomberlin) recorded and mixed the majority of the album at his home studio, keeping things moving while maintaining the cozy, contemplative atmosphere that’s reflected in the recordings.

The album also continues an ethos of spontaneity that’s always been one of the band’s core elements. If listening to Moonflowers sometimes feels similar to watching a foggy countryside pass by from the windows of a quiet car ride, that’s probably because those are the exact circumstances it was born from. Just as in the past Jones would have new songs ready before the last record was out, these songs were written while the band was moving through the liminal landscapes on their first European tour, and on a trek through the states just afterwards, testing out their new songs as works-in-progress for that night’s audience.

Moonflowers is the clearest possible view of something that took years to form, yet feels naturally like an introduction. The music is cared for but not belabored, and this fits perfectly with songs about the feelings that happen before you have time to think. In this fully arrived form of an entity that seems increasingly outside of time altogether, Constant Smiles taps into something instinctive, an atmosphere of stillness with microscopic parts that never stop moving, and songs that are nearly transparent but still somehow heavier than a mountain.

-Fred Thomas

New York’s Constant Smiles evolved into a fully formed band with Moonflowers, their Felte debut, a subtle, immersive ambient pop album. Built on instinct and emotional nuance, it weaves delicate textures into a quietly powerful, deeply affecting whole.

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