196 Constant Smiles - Time Measured in Moonflowers (ft. Cassandra Jenkins)
I first heard this collaboration between Constant Smiles and Cassandra Jenkins not as the stand-alone single that it is but rather in situ; the soft, quiet farewell it provides as the tenth and final song on the forthcoming – and really rather wonderful – new album from the New York-based band.
Little changes in either environment, the song is a hushed and patient undertaking regardless, though it really does round the album's journey off in suitably endearing form when heard as part of its bigger story. Released in November, the Moonflowers LP, from where the song is pulled from, does indeed feel like a journey, a wooded wander perhaps, all shifting light and earthy smells, loam underfoot.
It's described as 'ambient-pop' but it flirts compellingly with aspects of slow-core as well as 90s indie rock. Led by Ben Jones since 2009, the project has often shifted in tone and texture; releasing records on the Sacred Bones label, always evolving and starting anew regardless of what's come before. Here, on 'Time Measured in Moonflowers', it's all simple and hushed folk textures, Jones & co. enlisting Cassandra Jenkins to add her suitably measured voice as further foliage to the backdrop.
Jenkins is one of a number of guests who join the trio on the wider upcoming album, the ten-track release also welcoming contributions from the likes of Cassandra Jenkins, Shahzad Ismaily, Steven R. Smith, P.G. Six and more.
The result there, is as it is here: a carefully-woven and textural undertaking that seems to slow the world down a little that, even in the slightly darker moments found across the album, adds a little extra intrigue to a collection of songs that feels both dreamlike and full of heart, always intricate and captivating.
Moonflowers is the clearest possible view of something that took years to form, yet feels naturally like an introduction. In this fully arrived form of an entity that seems increasingly outside of time altogether, 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. - Fred Thomas
Moonflowers LP released November 7th, via Felte Records. Find more here
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