Boris Smile – Rocket EP

Strictly speaking, California’s Boris Smile is a six-piece.  That alone is rather sizeable for a group that thrives on sounding like a simpler, calmer and more indie oriented take on the Smoking Popes.  Now consider that across their six-track EP, Rocket, the total swells to a bustling thirteen contributors.  Not only numerically impressive, the high number suggests Boris Smile is a band intent on achieving lofty ambitions, ready to import sounds and outside talent to achieve their goal.

Even with a relatively simple core, Boris Smile understands that musical vision cannot be predetermined.  There’s no shame in leaning on the strengths of friends and contemporaries if that’s what it takes to capture the moment as originally intended.  The band’s central acoustic and electric guitars might make up the bulk of the journey, but they’re but a sliver of the tale.  Fact is, most entries on their instrumental laundry only make brief sightings; but that they were deemed necessary is the sign of great foresight.

In fact, I wouldn’t hesitate venturing a guess that some contributions only surface during their rather elaborate introductory track, “Satellites.”  The three-minute instrumental opens with a light and incredibly organic combination of what sounds like a xylophone (although not credited), chimes, various softly blown brass waves, and a briefly imported radio static that hints at an unspecified era dating to somewhere in the early 1900’s.  It’s simple, abstract, and makes the following track, “Adventures With Rockets (Revisited),” shine like a massive supernova.

Despite finding release on Count Your Lucky Stars Records, Rocket isn’t something I’d tag as “shimmering,” “fluttery,” or even “twinkly” (all adjectives I typically pull out for the label).  Even so, their combination of frontman A. Wesley Chung and a myriad of soft spoken male and female vocalists (Doug Brown, Avi Buffalo, and Jessica Garcia) atop a backdrop including cellos, violins, trombones, trumpets, and a clarinet means they couldn’t have found a more suiting home.

It’s also worth noting that their slowest tracks, especially the cello/piano combination characteristic of “Apollo,” really give off a pleasant Ra Ra Riot vibe.

And to top it off, they back up the entire affair with some thoughtful lyrics.  As cliché as describing affection with space metaphors might sound, these tracks succeed on the strength of their playful allure.  For example, when Chung sings “the stars are in your eyes, that’s just a stupid pick up line, but I’ll use it since there are no planets in sight… I love your pearl white boots, and your skin tight rocket suit” on the aforementioned “Adventure With Rockets,” he captures a playful sincerity that many artists tend to omit.  So when he pipes up a few tracks later on “Aurora,” claiming “I will be your shelter, I won’t let the cold in,” the effect is refreshingly authentic, rather than cheesy or stale.

The only major misstep comes as the final track’s experimental bonus “8.24.06 (The Humbling Of A Planet).”  For the song’s final half Chung works towards some sort of vocoder enhanced confession.  The effect is nauseating, and ruins an otherwise competent track.  But even if the EP concludes on a sour note, I’m willing to forget that disappointing conclusion in favour of that which came before.  As Rocketmakes clear, Boris Smile writes some of the most well thought out indie pop out there (if you can call it that), and one disappointing track can’t erase that fact.