Constant Smiles (USA)
The hot name of the famous label Sacred Bones. The band Constant Smiles from the American state of Massachusetts has been active on the guitar scene for more than a decade and during the last five years they have created some of the best recordings of their discography. This year's imaginary highlight was the album Kenneth Anger, masterfully brought to life by engineer Jonathan Schenke (Parquet Courts, Liars, Dougie Pool). The dreamy post-punk album with a hint of synth-pop and shoegaze received positive reviews from music critics.
"The latest album from this Ben Jones-led Massachusetts band is an evocative blend of '80s-inspired synth-pop and shoegazer dream-pop, combining fuzzy guitars, atmospheric synths and occasional strings and piano with hypnotic melodies and lyrics about isolation, anxiety and healing." - KEXP
Constant Smiles were previously known for their critically acclaimed album Paragons, which marked the beginning of their collaboration with the Sacred Bones label. An emotionally resonant collection of indie-folk masterpieces that confront the ways we process our internal struggles with intimacy, addiction and humanity.
https://constantsmiles.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/constant_smiles/
Clementine Valentine (NZ)
Alternative folk with a dream-pop mood. Sisters Clementine and Valentine Nixon aka Clementine Valentine (formerly Purple Pilgrims) create music drawn from a nomadic family heritage that evokes unique moods of contrasts: ancient and modern, paradise and isolation, beauty and brokenness, ritual and "right now".
The sisters, who grew up wandering between New Zealand and Hong Kong, previously performed in galleries and abandoned Hong Kong industrial estates, performing experimental noise and futuristic dream-pop under the moniker Purple Pilgrims. The duo has since toured the world alongside the likes of Ariel Pink, Aldous Harding, John Maus and Weyes Blood. It's a lifestyle embedded in their lineage, as they were taught to sing traditional ballads by their grandmother as children.
https://www.instagram.com/clementinexvalentine/
https://www.facebook.com/purplepilgrims/
