Forced Smiles is a solo project from Ohio who recently released Spill It. He mentions “I took influence from shoegaze and alt-rock bands from the ‘90s for this album, namely Slowdive, MBV, and Dinosaur Jr, with an ear for the more modern, polished sounds of bands like LSD and the Search For God, Fazerdaze and Fight Cloud.” I was a fan as well of all the bands back in the ’90s when I was high school. His music does seem to embrace those aesthetics.
He begins with “IfAndOnlyIf” which veers towards Dinosaur Jr type aesthetics. It’s made up of jangly chords, a beat and a rounded bass. It’s one of the better songs on the album and showcases some solid guitar skills. “Mom's Socks'' is obviously more shoegaze oriented. The guitars had more of a home recording type of quality on this song. There was a good amount of what sounded like flanger and chorus. His vocals are lush. The guitars have a meaty sound on “Don't Mind” and this was the style I thought he sounded best in. On top of that the vocals are a little more buried and have a hall reverb. The aesthetics seemed to work to his strengths. He goes back into shoegaze with “Spill It” and I found the guitars slightly piercing on this track but still enjoyed it. “Like a Moth” and “Moths Pt. 2” both sounded good. His best shoegaze attempt comes on “Off/On.” “Grant Park” has its moments but “Filler” had some solid melancholy folk in the spirit of Elliott Smith. He ends with a “Facts” which actually reminded me of a different ’90s group - Pavement. This was a solid effort. The instrumental aspects were parts of the record that shined for me. Take a listen.
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