Much like the night-blooming flora the album takes its name from, Constant Smiles’ Felte debut Moonflowers is the product of slow, largely unseen patterns of growth. The New York-based band forged a path all their own on the way here, gradually growing from an amorphous collection of highly conceptual ideas into something easier to grasp, with every step of their unlikely route leading to Moonflowers, a subtle masterpiece of internally-born ambient pop.Constant Smiles was formed in 2009 by Ben Jones. He was joined by different collaborators in versions of the band that manifested as noisy soundscapes, scenic chamber pop, or icy coldwave-adjacent synth-pop, often released on opaquely-designed, ultra-limited albums named after favorite film directors. A move to New York and a few records on Sacred Bones resulted in more people becoming aware of the band, but Jones and friends remained in constant flux. The great unlocking of the Constant Smiles puzzlebox happened when the band solidified into a permanent core lineup when drummer/vocalist Nora Knight joined Jones and longtime bassist Spike Currier in the end of 2022. After years of being defined by visceral change and inconsistency, this stabilized personnel shifted the sound, emotional coloration, and impact of the band. With Knight and Currier providing counterpoint and structure to Jones’ always percolating creative drive, the songs became more streamlined and direct. Still airy and dream-like, the trio version of Constant Smiles that produced Moonflowers has cleared away the clouds of vaguity and uncertainty that could make earlier versions of the band feel harder to connect with. Like the best moments of foundational albums by Talk Talk or Nick Drake, the lived-in majesty of Adrianne Lenker’s Songs/Instrumentals or Jim O’Rourke’s excursions into chamber pop, Moonflowers reaches its dynamic swells naturally, almost subliminally. It’s a sound that past Constant Smiles releases hinted at but never fully achieved. Moonflowers is the clearest possible view of something that took years to form, yet feels naturally like an introduction. The music is cared for but not belabored, and this fits perfectly with songs about the feelings that happen before you have time to think. In this fully arrived form, Constant Smiles taps into something instinctive, an atmosphere of stillness with microscopic parts that never stop moving, and songs that are nearly transparent but still somehow heavier than a mountain.
