Mikhail Daken returns with ‘Smile’

“To the lost boys of this world, find your place, between your duty and your dreams” 

Mikhail Daken returns with ‘Smile,’ a haunting reflection on the struggle of growing up under the evolutionary pressures of modern life. 

Bellowing bass engulf layers of glassy harmonics as Daken’s breathy falsetto questions the struggle of sacrificing dreams in place of duty in an age of instant gratification. These musings yield to a chorus of duelling guitars with Daken confessing his conflicted state is exactly where he needs to be.  

“Sell me things I don’t need, in unisex insecurity” 

At a time when every human desire centre is being constantly primed and exhausted, where baseless opinion favours fact and advertising relentlessly targets you in the most surgical ways, ‘Smile’ was written as a response to the perpetual overstimulation we are faced with. 

Daken notes: “I wrote ‘Smile’ as a reminder that I don’t need to have it figured out all the time, there is nobility within the daily struggles.”

“And we’re screaming out for more” 

While writing ‘Smile,’ Daken was also influenced by a strange divide among his peers. A lot of close friends divided themselves into two camps, tribal echo chambers of people concerned with “positive vibes only” or morose nihilism. Everyone in between seemed to become part of the white noise that both camps seek to escape from. All the while, the devices and structures that were supposed to bring people together, are separating and isolating us. The video for ‘Smile’ plays into these themes. 

Depicting the condemnation of an individual by a jury with malevolent intent, the viewer is left to decide which side is which. Daken adds, “These are frustratingly oxymoronic times, it feels like we are simultaneously more connected and divided than ever, more universally informed but specifically misled, equally vilified and persecuted.” 

‘Smile’ was directed by BAFTA nominated director Joseph Ollman, featuring animation from artist Alek Wasilewski. The cover art was created by Mike Winkleman.

Accompanying ‘Smile’ is the instrumental track, ‘Onryo’. Serving as an introduction to ‘Smile,’ ‘Onryo’ is an ambient instrumental that stacks swirls of ethereal guitars amidst swathes of undulating modular synths and vocal pads. 

“I wanted something to create a sequence of sounds that felt chaotic and irregular that distil into something serene and contemplative. This exemplifies the state of mind I was in when creating ‘Smile’.