San Diego-based shoegaze and psych-pop foursome SMILING (formerly known as Annie Girl and The Flight) share the first track taken from their new album 'Devour', out August 6th on Rebel Waves Records. Feel the salty air and melancholy of their new video "Forgetful Sam" exclusively on The Big Takeover website!
SMILING is the electric brainchild of guitarist and vocalist Annie Shaw from the mile-high city of Denver and now based in Los Angeles, after a detour to Haight Ashbury and San Francisco. Smiling started off in 2015 under the name of Annie Girl and the Flight and did several tours of the USA and Canada, including two tours supporting Against Me!
Going into the now-defunct Dock Studios in Sacramento, CA, where Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall undertook much of their output, the band tracked the ten songs of their new album 'Devour' in two days. With its warm psychedelic overtones, interleaved guitars and violins, and layered melodic vocals, 'Devour' sits somewhere between Fugazi and My Bloody Valentine. Although Annie Shaw remains the main songwriter, she enjoys collaborating with other band members: “I wrote all the songs on Devour, but I am starting to do more co-writes. Josh Pollock and I have played for a long time together and have a natural way of harmonically moving around one another. Josh also happens to be a guitar wizard and has a pedalboard the size of a small country. He can make sounds with a guitar I’ve never heard anywhere else and he shreds.”
SMILING is the electric brainchild of performer, composer, songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, Annie Shaw originally from Denver CO, and now based in San Diego, CA after a detour to Haight Ashbury and San Francisco. She started playing piano at age three, guitar at ten and started her first band in second grade. Smiling started off in 2015 under the name of Annie Girl and the Flight and did several tours of the USA and Canada two tours opening for Against Me! In 2016, she headed into the studio with longtime cohort Josh Pollock on guitar and the rhythm section of Mark Nelson (Bass) and Sonny Pearce (drums).
When the songs were ready and fully gig tested, SMILING went into the studio with engineer and co-producer John Baccigaluppi (7 Seconds, Sea of Bees, Little Wings). Then they recorded at the now-defunct Dock Studios in Sacramento, CA where Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall tracked a lot of their output. Baccigaluppi and Shaw then spent several months on fleshing out overdubs and vocals for the albums in a spaced-out series of shorter sessions at the famed Hyde Street studio D in San Francisco, CA where Creedence Clearwater tracked some of their classic songs and at Coyote Hearing in Oakland, CA where violinist and vocalist Sivan Lioncub (Everyone is Dirty) added a fifth layer of textures to several songs. The album was mixed by Joe Finocchio (Soft White Sixties, Country Club) at Panoramic House Studio in West Marin, CA.
With its psychedelic overtones, interleaved guitars and violins, and layered melodic vocals, SMILING on Devour sits somewhere in-between Fugazi and My Bloody Valentine. Besides Smiling, Annie keeps busy with several other projects, Book of Eyes who are working on a book to accompany their acoustic music, Premium Destiny her dream pop and film scoring entity with Josh Menashe (Frankie & The Witch Fingers) who recently scored the film Laguna Ave, and Thirst, an electronic pop project with co-producer Harper. Music will always be her north star and SMILING allows her the space to crank up, tune in, and blast off.
SMILING is
Annie Shaw: Guitar, Vocals
Josh Pollock: Guitars
Mark Nelsen: Bass, backing vocals
Sonny Pearce: Drums
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