Attracting the admiration of high profile artists like Lady Gaga, among others, AV Super Sunshine has amassed over 200,000 fans spanning an array of demo and geographic boundaries, the deceptively ambitious music spooling from his imagination has struck gold again with his new single “Smile”. He offers the track in two different mixes, an original version and its house remix counterpart, and both version serve up ample evidence for why this songwriter and performer rates among the most interesting and individual artists working in modern music today. His longtime producer Michael Bradford helps shepherd this track as well and their creative partnership shows no signs of staleness or stagnation. AV Super Sunshine undoubtedly wields a lot of stroke in how he presents his music, but Bradford clearly understands how to frame his strengths across the board.
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This is certainly evident in the vocals for the first version of “Smile”. His voice never puts the musical arrangement in the backseat as some sort of afterthought, far from it, but there’s an effective balance between his singing and the electronic accompaniment following him throughout the course of the track. There’s a Bowie-like flavor to half sung and half recited quality of his delivery that many listeners will find appealing and it isn’t surprising as the Thin White Duke is one of Sunshine’s avowed influences. This version’s recurring harmony backing vocals bring extra sweetness and humanity to the track.
The guitar playing does as well. It provides a improbable graceful counterpoint to the electronic music pulsing around it and the production renders it with outstanding clarity for listeners. Many will also arrive at the opinion that it helps this track stand out as the more musical of the song’s two versions and that’s true to some degree, but you must remain cognizant that each version of the track has distinctly different target audiences.
The house remix will exert a strong hold on those who want to experience the music in a physical way, clubs, DJs, and parties. It begs for a first class sound system to pump out its dense electronic collage to eager listeners. It’s even more rambunctious than the energetic first version of the track and has dynamic qualities impossible to ignore. It alters AV Super Sunshine’s vocal in significant ways but never takes it too far away from what we’ve heard with the initial cut of this song. There is no guitar present in the house remix and it is much longer than its counterpart yet never tries your patience.
He directed, edited, and produced the accompanying promotional clip for the track and it has the same level of professionalism and polish we hear in the music yet there’s a pronounced personal touch that attentive viewers will readily recognize. It is another impressive musical achievement for AV Super Sunshine in a run that began in 2015 and doesn’t show any signs of running out of steam, “Smile” is one of the best singles you’ll hear from anyone, any genre, in 2020.
Loretta Kim