Saturday, February 9, 2008

Adorable - Sunshine Smile EP


In the grand scheme of the shoegaze/dream-pop hierarchy, Adorable is probably a 2nd or 3rd tier band in terms of relevance. Part of that is due to their relative obscurity and part of it can be attributed to the fact they abandoned the sound in favor of a more accessible British Pop vibe much in the same fashion contemporaries Ride and Lush did toward the end of their careers. However, nothing in their prolific yet short three-year run is suspect by any means. All seven EP's and two LP's have moments of greatness on par with that of a Ride or a Swervedriver or a Chapterhouse. Sunshine Smile is the first of many EP's the band released and the most in-line with the dream-pop sound they are often aligned with. The original version of this single was actually shelved before release and featured the songs "I'll Be Your Saint" (later released as it's own single) and "Breathless" (later released on their first LP Against Perfection) as the B-Sides. A few months later it was re-recorded and released with "A To Fade In" and "Sunburnt" in place of the two aforementioned tracks. To be honest, I'm not certain which version would have made for a better single as "A To Fade In" is one of my favorite Adorable tracks, but either way, all the songs ended up being released at some point and both versions of the EP are fantastic. All three songs on the released version of Sunshine Smile are soaked in delay and heavy on the ride cymbal with singer Piotr Fijalkowski's whispery, effortlessly executed voice leading each track. Though they aren't one of the heavy hitters of the early-mid 90's Creation roster, this EP is definitely a "must have" for those into the label and the sound that goes along with it.

Adorable - Sunshine Smile

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Matt said...

Sorry steve, didn't think it was that great