AV Super Sunshine is back with new Single/Video

In the new music video for the song “Smile,” a track that was undeniably already a staple of his discography, AV Super Sunshine gets back to the basics of being AV Super Sunshine – tossing cerebral visual stylizations, hybrid harmonies and substance over sonic chest-pounding into a single melting pot, “Smile” represents everything that made critics crazy for his sound when he first hit the scene a number of years ago, but while this is to be expected from an artist of his creative caliber, there’s no getting around the fact that the timing of its arrival seems all too perfect for the current pop climate this season.

The video’s imagery aside, the real prize here is the music, which we find synchronized with the surreal shots featured in “Smile” and presented in as crisp a mix as it is in Bass Face, AV Super Sunshine’s hit 2016 EP. The remix of the track, “Smile (House Remix),” is definitely as tight and even-keeled as this version is, but the main difference between the two has less to do with depth and almost everything to do with the size of the groove. Where this cut is vocal-centric, the house take puts danceable rhythms before everything else in the song.

Both versions of “Smile” feature some amazing vocal work on the part of AV Super Sunshine, and I think that his singing is a bit more of a compositional cornerstone here than it has been in past releases. He’s got an immense skillset to share, and though he hasn’t been shy about belting out some heart-melting harmonies in previous endeavors, I think he’s wearing his emotions on his sleeve a little more in this single than he has prior to now. This lyricism definitely calls for a passion singer’s touch, and he fills the role elegantly.

I really love the balanced bass element in “Smile (House Remix),” and considering the audience it was meant for, I think electronica buffs everywhere are going to appreciate this track for its efficient construction more than anything else. There has been no shortage of overindulgence coming from AV Super Sunshine’s rivals in the last year, and he’s wisely steering clear of the same excesses that brought his contemporaries down in this latest release, not only to distinguish himself from the pack, but to give his fans the highbrow musicality that we’ve become accustom to through his ever-expanding discography.

While I’ve been interested in AV Super Sunshine’s music for a few years now, I think this next chapter in his storied career is going to produce even more thrills n’ chills than the last did, and in a sense, “Smile” is audible proof of his eminence as both a songwriter and a performer in 2020. There were a lot of artists who have been striving to develop a sound similar to his in the late 2010’s, but in my professional and personal opinion, nothing beats the lean, mean qualities of the original article, which is exactly what this player is through and through.

Mindy McCall