Porter Robinson – SMILE! :D
Porter Robinson's third album, SMILE! :D, is his most intimate yet, full of maximalist ambitions and aching honesty
SMILE! :D is an album of swerves. Both in its sonic choices – usually multiple times in a song, from Y2K rave to pop-punk to acoustic guitar – but also tone. Maybe this is to be expected from an album Porter Robinson intended to have “no sincerity”, until his emotions kept bubbling up in the writing process, but the result is still startling – neither jaded nor earnest, self-consciousness without cynicism.
Cheerleader contains some Rhythm Heaven-style girl exclaiming in time to the beat. The chiptune stylings of peers Anamanaguchi can be felt in opener Knock Yourself Out XD or in the keys solo of Easier To Love You. There’s a Baths-esque instrumental behind Year of the Cup, while Mona Lisa stands out as a collab with noisy glitchsters Frost Children – think the spaced-out vaporwave chill of George Clanton, i.e. the 90s made halcyon, flipping suddenly into abrasive electroclash. Meanwhile, Is There Really No Happiness? comes in as the strongest song – an elegiac ballad in breakbeat.
SMILE! :D is heartbreak on a stadium level, but also in your headphones. It telescopes out with the maximalist ambitions of EDM before crashing down to aching honesty, earnest as a superfan. It’s Robinson’s most intimate album yet.
Listen to: Cheerleader, Perfect Pintrest Garden, Is There Really No Happiness?