AV Super Sunshine’s “Smile (House Remix)”

You cannot help but love the impressive emotional and musical creativity AV Super Sunshine puts into his latest single “Smile”. The great ones always make it sound effortless, though we can be sure he and producer Michael Bradford labored a great deal to create what we hear with this track and its accompanying remix. AV Super Sunshine powers the song with a positive message relating that a probable key to improving the world and our relationships with each other might be if we take the time to smile at one another a little more and express extra affection. It may sound idealistic or a little too simple, but AV Super Sunshine conveys the message with such stylishness that you can’t help but feel a certain amount of dreamy-eyed affinity for what AV Super Sunshine wants to say. I think so and the song exerts that effect on me from the outset.

The duration of both versions of the track is ideal. AV Super Sunshine and his creative partner Michael Bradford exhibit a keen compositional sense eliminating any fat from the song. There’s not a single wasted word or note in either track. The focus they bring to both tracks helps develop this into, arguably, one of AV Super Sunshine’s best tracks yet. The first take on the track brings a dollop of traditional musical instruments together with a preponderance of electronic instruments that makes this a shining example of how to combine the modern with the classic in such a way that it appeals to wide swath of the potential listening audience.

The first take kicks off with a strong synthesized pulse that continues throughout the track and the cut rises to another level when the guitar begins weaving around the electronic aspects of the production. The electronic percussion comes in after this and provides an added pulse strengthening the foundation of the track. Another traditional element of the performance is the use of backing vocals to accentuate AV Super Sunshine’s lead vocal. He is more than capable of carrying the cut, but the backing vocals reinforce the quality of his own performance.

AV Super Sunshine’s vocal performance is first class. His phrasing is what attracts me most. He gives the track a sense of intimacy lacking from a variety of modern artists – the careful way he navigates with each of the song’s lines is wonderful. The lyrical content is straight forward and delivers his point, but it is clearly an intelligent lyric. The remix is no different in this regard, but the track goes in a much more electronic direction musically. There are no audible “traditional” instruments in the song and even the vocals receive electronic treatment that, nonetheless, never robs them of their humanity. I am fond of this track. AV Super Sunshine lacks any pretension, weaves through each version of the song with confidence born from experience, and his “hippie” ideals are a delight to hear. I’ll be seeking out more from this wildly creative artist.

AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Smile-House-Remix/dp/B0774SH3Y8

Michael Rand