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 Smile Down Upon Us's Profile |
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Hello Sumiyo... |
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| Location: | Tokyo, |
| Country: |  United Kingdom |
| Last Login: | May 26, 2008 (105 days back) |
About Me |
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| SMILE DOWN UPON US moomLooo sings, tell stories, makes electronics, collects sounds and breaks things. Keiron and David play musical instruments - lots of them. moomLooo lives in Tokyo. Keiron and David live in London. One day we all hope to meet. Together we are Smile Down Upon Us.You might know Keiron Phelan and David Sheppard from their work together as State River Widening or Phelan Sheppard, or individually with Ellis Island Sound, Wisdom Of Harry, Orla Wren, David Grubbs, Darren Hayman, Continental Film Night, Piano Magic, Stretch And Relax, Niandra Ladies … (that’s probably enough, isn’t it?)moomLooo comes fresh from her 2006 debut album on Tokyo’s Clay Records. We think she does some singing for other people but, really, who knows?The L.P. "SMILE DOWN UPON US" will be released by YACCA ( in Japan / Asia ) on 20th June '08 and by STATIC CARAVAN ( in the U.K. / Europe ) on 21st July '08.Smile Down Upon Us is a very modern kind of band. Comprising Phelan Sheppard, the duo behind celebrated album Harps Old Master, and Japanese artist moomLooo, it’s a project that crosses cultural and musical boundaries. And, for the duration of recording their self-titled debut album, it existed solely on the Internet, as the three have never met.The band came about when Keiron Phelan, a prodigious MySpace trawler, came across moomLooo’s page and her enchanting recordings for Japan’s Clay label. He sent a message introducing himself, and she responded saying she admired his work too.“None of us had any reservations about working together from the word go,” says Phelan. “It just seemed natural – a touch of kismet.”Soon, they began sending ideas back and forth on the Internet, sound files whizzing between Tokyo and London. Though initially a project to occupy Phelan whilst David Sheppard was writing his much-anticipated Brian Eno biography, On Some Faraway Beach, Phelan’s long-time fellow group member soon came into the fold. The pair set up in East London’s Soup Studio, in the basement of ukulele shop Duke Of Uke. There, they purloined parlour guitars, banjos and ukes from the shop and recorded them into ProTools, blending old and new, as well as east and west.Over in Japan, at home and at Tokyo’s Naturebliss studio, moomLooo recorded her largely electronic parts and field recordings, adding delicately captivating vocals and spoken word, half in English, half in Japanese. Soon, they were writing parts for each other, playing to each other’s strengths.“I don't speak any Japanese and moom's English is so-so,” says Phelan. “In order to understand each other, we had to use simple language, and our emails began to look like a dialogue between two hyper-enthusiastic nine year-olds. We could only discuss things in a very ‘primary colour’ way and the music seemed to become extremely vivid too. Dave and I had the idea that this was sounding like a Chagall painting looks. That seemed a really strong and suitable feeling for the band, so we pushed it along that road.”Between the language barriers, time differences and hours downloading files, the process of creating the album took almost 14 months. When moomLooo emailed the last part over, it came with a recorded message introducing herself to the pair.“It's been a very mysterious process,” says Phelan. “I email moom all the time, but I know very little about her. I've never met her, never spoken to her. I don't know how old she is or what she does for a living. None of the usual things. And I think we all found this an intriguing situation.”The resulting album has a strange kind of magic, an essence running through it. Blending warm wooden instruments with moomLooo’s icy vocal, it sounds modern at the same time as aged, distinctly Japanese but rooted in the conventions of modern, electronic folk music. More structured than Phelan Sheppard’s usually instrumental music, it reveals a new, accessible side to their work, one that’s sure to appeal to fans of Bjork, Deerhoof and lovers of beautiful, beguiling music everywhere.The next step in the evolution of Smile Down Upon Us is to turn it into a functioning live band. In Japan, moomLooo has assembled musicians ( Seki, Eri and Umino ) to recreate the songs until she finally meets with Phelan and Sheppard this summer, when they intend to stage what’s bound to be some very special live shows indeed. “It would be quite something to have a Smile Down Upon Us (East) and a Smile Down Upon Us (West),” says Phelan. “Dave and I have never met or spoken to these musicians, we only know their names. But soon we’ll be able to look on YouTube and see them playing our songs! It's a weird but pleasant feeling.”Lisa Durant ( In House Press )Backing photo : Teresa Neal A Girl of Skin Couloured Blanket video by Hans Appelqvist |
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My Interests |
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Music:Member Since: 4/27/2007Band Members: moomLooo, Keiron, David Influences: London: everything in Hanbury Street Tokyo: everything in nature Sounds Like: Everything in Hanbury Street and everything in nature. Record Label: Static Caravan ( U.K. / Europe ) / Yacca ( Japan ) Type of Label: Indie |
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My Background and Lifestyle |
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| Occupation: | Music Artist (Other / Lyrical / Other) |
My Pictures |
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My Blog |
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Smile Down Upon Us Album |
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| We are pleased and excited to announce that Smile Down Upon Us have recently completed their eponymous, debut album. It was recorded in London and Tokyo over the last year, with tracks taking shape c... Posted by Smile Down Upon Us on Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:44:00 PST |
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NEW SMILE DOWN VIDEO |
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| A lovely new video for "Girl Of A Skin Coloured Blanket", made by the lovely Hans Appelqvist, is up on our site.
It's got a dancing frog. Sort of.
Everyone likes a dancing frog. Posted by Smile Down Upon Us on Fri, 14 Dec 2007 08:11:00 PST |
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The lyrics of "Kotoba No Yukue" |
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| "Kotoba No Yukue"(Kotoba No Yukue means " The words are lost" in English.)Magical creature That Enormous mouthed, bobbed up infront of an old man. He lives deep in the mountains.That creature smiled ... Posted by Smile Down Upon Us on Sun, 13 May 2007 05:51:00 PST |
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My Friends |
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moomLooo, Phelan Sheppard, ellis island sound, State River Widening, YACCA, Masami, murr*murr, Our Broken Garden, YUJI, ekisutora, orla wren, Niandra Ladies, Kutomo, mika utamura, oOmiaq, uncle owen aunt beru, Neon Walrus, Noneworks, Claire Obscure and The Nocturnes, SPOOKBOY, Amy elizabeth frith, imago meccano, florencia ruiz, frederiClement, Pitch, Anamlor Smith, rena erikuchi, FlowBerry, udosson, PATROU, Abigail Hopkins, Terami Hirsch Fan Page, Biofluxo, RURAL WAR ROOM, Leaping Boy, Mi and L’au, mauro pandolfino, the weather council., Suzy Mangion, Tadataka Sudo, · péle mellé ·, sansura official myspace, Ninn Ozéra, EkToR, syn CORE, dropSoup, NOPSE, Ruibyat (ルイビヤット), [F]LUISTER, Rambles.NET Reviews, a journey in chaos, BZz, creativitist, atticus mckittrick, Lady Space, veron, Strawman, beta plus embryo, Kala, un escargot vide ?
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Tags |
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Smile Down Upon Us's profile has been tagged with the following keywords. Click a tag to search for profiles with the same tags. internet sound files, darren hayman, david grubbs, titled debut album, wisdom of harry, sound wisdom, static caravan, musical boundaries, state river widening, japan asia, yacca, david sheppard, keiron, piano magic, japanese artist, myspace, 21st july, phelan, film night, brian eno |
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