Name: Kenneth Anger
Brand: Constant Smiles

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

SBR318LP

Colour

Blue

Colour details

Blue Eyes Vinyl.

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2023-03-03

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

0843563157619

Total Cap

Blue LP

SBR318CD

0843563157626

Artist

Constant Smiles

Genre GB

Alternative / Modern

Label GB

Sacred Bones Records

Sacred Bones Records is a New York label founded in 2007. With an impressive team including Taylor Brode as the general manager, [designer], [screen-printing artist], and [video maker], they have established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.

Their catalogue number scheme includes various formats such as LPs, mail-order exclusives, mystery 12", flexi-discs, tapes, mixtapes, CDs, reissues, remixes, and releases specifically for the Japanese market. Each format is easily identifiable by its unique catalogue number.

With their informative and authoritative tone of voice, Sacred Bones Records has become a go-to label for music enthusiasts looking for diverse and high-quality releases across different formats. Explore their extensive catalogue and discover new sounds that will captivate your ears.

Over the last half decade, the music collective Constant Smiles has produced a prolific output of acclaimed music, culminating in this record Kenneth Anger, masterfully brought to life by engineer Jonathan Schenke (Parquet Courts, Liars, Dougie Pool). The group is known most recently for their much-praised debut album for Sacred Bones records, Paragons, an emotionally resonant offering of indie folk masterpieces that all confront the internal ways we process our struggles with intimacies, addiction and humanity - produced by Ben Greenberg.

Constant Smiles’ primary singer / songwriter Ben Jones uses the creative process as a tool for working through a deeply transformative period in his life. The band’s indie folk music lays bare this internal process, but on Kenneth Anger, the music shifts to synth pop and looks externally, examining creativity, community, ritual, and their place in the healing process. Ritual takes a primary role in the eponymous Kenneth Anger. Not only is auteur Kenneth Anger himself known for his sensorial depictions of ritual, Jones often used the films as a silent visual backdrop during his songwriting sessions, a ritual that grounded the creation of the album. And while the director's use of saturated color inspired the warm ‘80s synth style production, the director's trailblazing spirit of authenticity also pushed Jones through his most vulnerable expression to date.

Kenneth Anger is a collage of inspirations all funneled through the depths of reckoning into a distinctly unique synth pop tableau. Album opener "Finding Ways" uses a spiraling bass line, shimmering guitars and soft repetitive mantra-style vocals to bring the listener under the album's spell. It leads into stand-out track "In My Heart", where haunting background vocals by guitarist Lena Fjortoft and the propulsive drums of Ryan Jewell help to craft an anthem you haven't heard until you have heard it with the volume up and the wind in your hair. The album's most overtly pop song "Gold Like Water" was written about the intense feelings of panic attacks, spirals and spin outs, but also about feeling grateful for the people in your life who can help pull you out. The soothing double vocal performance by Jones and Taia and the rich cello accompaniment by Nicky Wetherall, become their own medicine.

This illustrates one of the foundational accomplishments of the album: while the narrative undertones of the songs deal with fear and isolation and anxiety, the songs themselves were created through the healing process of ritual, and enriched with collaboration, community and trust. The resulting music produces a balm that can genuinely recalibrate the nervous system. The listener journeys through the depths of every track while being lifted and guided by the music’s transformative hypnotic power. Just as a Kenneth Anger film explores the underbelly of the unconscious through proto-ASMR visuals, Kenneth Anger the album conjures the underworld into a series of synth pop classics.

Kenneth Anger 

Music GB