The Beach Boys
Smile Sessions (Capitol)
L.A. DIY indie project Friend's House told us about their love for a Beach Boys classic.
Friend's House: My favorite album of all time has got to be The Beach Boys’ Smile Sessions. It’s the assembled recordings of Brian Wilson’s magnum opus Smile, a project so ambitious that label, bandmate, and mental health issues led to him shelving the project in 1967. Its fragments were finally assembled in the 2000’s and as an unfinished project, it remains as some of the most affecting music I’ve ever heard.
I got into this album with my brother, Thomas (who also performs in the Friend’s House live group), when we were 11-12 years old and exploring the Beach Boys’ discography. I personally was drawn to the project’s atmosphere; its childlike whimsy undercut by spiritual melancholy. It sounds absolutely haunting and cavernous, the instrumentals so perfectly composed. The lyrics, courtesy of Van Dyke Parks, cryptically describe everything from vegetables, the Wild West, to the apocalypse. It’s an album so weird and beautiful, with a backstory as tragic, it’s almost mystical.
Pictured: Friend's House, right, with MyVeronica. Photo by artist friends.
Friend's House's split EP with MyVeronica, Farewell Skylines, is out now.
