Wednesday 28 May 2014

SMILE TO THE WIND (aka Улыбайся Ветру)

GenresPunk / Screamo / Hardcore / Post-Hardcore / Metalcore
Related artistsHomeless Is Dead and Minaret.
CountrySaint Petersburg, RUSSIA
Years Active2012-present
Song: "Второй рассвет"
Album: "Моменты"
Year: 2013
Label(s): Sad Records / Zegema Beach Records / It's A Trap! / Pike Records / Flood Records / 
This post's artist is from the May 2014 Mix. This is track #31.
You can download the May 2014 Mix#5 right here or get the new June Mix#6 here.
For fans ofRavin, Carrion Spring, Loma Prieta, Youth Funeral, Orchid, Protest The Hero, Itto, This Ship Will Sink, In First Person, Caitlyn Bailey, Dip Leg, Gaff, Louise Cyphre, Tristan Tzara and Voyage In Coma aka PROPER Screamo.

I remember when my good friend Alex in Nous Etions posted his top 10 albums of 2013 and this band SMILE TO THE WIND (aka Улыбайся Ветру in Russian) was among them. Considering we like a lot of the same music I checked them out right around the time to band contacted me about helping out with their split. I was game based on the 2 releases they had that year. Fast-forward another month or so and I find out the band is splitting with Øjne! I nearly lost my mind at how amazing that split was/is going to be, and here we are with just over 2 weeks to go before the pre-order is posted - June 15th, to be exact. By the way, this is the first SMILE TO THE WIND release on a physical format. Happy days!

So, SMILE TO THE WIND. The songs have a lot going on, but generally follow a similar path through an onslaught of tumbling bass, thick screamy vocals, cymbal-heavy/lightning fast drums and speedy palm-mutes combined with a lot of intricate/chaotic solos. Seriously though, if you are into 'The Short History Of Decay'-era Carrion Spring, Louise Cyphre and the new Ravin cd, this will be your new favourite band. As an additional note, 'Моменты' (aka 'Moments') was mixed and mastered by Will Killingsworth of Orchid/Ampere fame. Another interesting note is that the 2 recordings from 2013 only have 3 members making all that noise! They have since added a second guitarist which really makes the band sound thicker and much better live.

Songs such as "Последний миг наедине" (from the LP) and "Катастрофы" (from the МАЯК split) are excellent examples of how the band mix speed and off-time melodies, not unlike Loma Prieta. On occasion SMILE TO THE WIND slows it down, although not substantially. "В руинах" and "Д-503" are prime renderings of the band taking their time to craft more fluid songs that sounds organic, which is a dynamic I hope the band embraces more in their future. If there's one issue it's that some songs from 2013 sound similar, so the variation within the songs is even more apparent when SMILE TO THE WIND decides to do something different. That being said, I love all of these guys' songs - even the ones that share similarities. If you know how to do something right, do it up. All songs on these 2 releases never extend themselves beyond an invisible 2-minute barrier and "Улица Думская" is only 10 seconds long, which should help reinforce the fact that SMILE TO THE WIND songs are so short and fast, they smash you in the face and then are gone before you know what hit you.

Most signs of songs sounding similar are rectified on the Øjne split 7" which has 4 new blazers that I'm not sure of the names because I have them as a single file on the computer and they are unmastered. They total 4:59 and are definitely the most eclectic of the band's released material. The first song is starts as an ambient track before things really get going, and rectifies the issues I had with the band's previous work after a mere 1:27. Track 2 is stripped of all slower melodies and is a 40-second hardcore romp. Track 3 sounds like it was culled from a western movie, with an eerie bass-driven intro that sounds like Kidcrash before delving into the meat of the song which lingers on the longer side, a whopping 2 minutes, which is the current max for the band. The final track is a slower song that focuses primarily on nice, noodley goodness. I think the band was influenced by Carrion Spring in the past and are now listening to more Kidcrash, so it's a great mix of those 2 styles. Oh, and the Øjne song is ridiculous, to boot.

Go to SMILE TO THE WIND's bandcamp page linked here to get their 2013 albums for free and be sure to check back on June 15th for the Øjne split 7" pre-order.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2013 - Моменты digitalLP (stream/download here)
2013 - МАЯК split digitalEP (stream/download here)

2014 - Øjne split 7"EP (pre-order available June 15th, 2014)

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(2013) SMILE TO THE WIND - "В руинах" (from 'МАЯК' split)

(2013) SMILE TO THE WIND - "Д-503" (from 'Моменты')

(2013) SMILE TO THE WIND - "Второй рассвет" (from 'Моменты')

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SMILE TO THE WIND additional links


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