For an album borne out of the scattered, transcontinental flights of sound fragments, Smile Down Upon Us seems as fluid as the bodies of water that separate its trio of creators. Keiron Phelan, one half of post-rock / ambient alchemists Phelan Sheppard and formerly of State River Widening, stumbled upon moomLooo’s captivating sound whilst scouring MySpace. After a series of electronic exchanges and the addition of David Sheppard, Smile Down Upon Us emerged. The fledgling collaboration had an additional air of mystique as moomLooo is based in Japan and Phelan and Sheppard are in London. They had never met each other before – and from all accounts, still haven’t to this day.
moomLooo’s voice has the agility and beauty to match the cut-up guitar, banjo and ukulele sounds that Phelan and Sheppard pieced together for her. The result is a transition from the delicate, near-mournful instrumentals that characterised Phelan Sheppard’s last album Harp’s Old Master to a visceral experience filled with a gentle sense of humour. ‘Child’s Walk’ has the somnolent feel of youth, basking in the sunlight of recorders and off-kilter drum beats. moomLooo’s discreet vocals enter the mix towards the end, innocently asking the question ‘who are you?’, perhaps to her fellow collaborators.
Whilst the first part of the album feels like an introduction to the whimsy of moomLooo, ‘My Body’s Continents’ and its successor ‘Two Weeks Last Summer’ have the distinctive feel of the London-based duo. Gentle, steady bass elopes with flighty strings from ukulele and guitar, as delicate pings rise to the surface under moomLooo’s pseudo-English and Japanese lyrics. Their combined strength is in subtlety, when moomLooo’s vocals and found sounds float atop Phelan and Sheppard’s organic arrangements. ‘A Vessel in the Fragrance’, nestled inconspicuously towards the end of the album, is simply exquisite. Thudding drums, mesmerising parlour guitar and that vocal in perfect harmony make it the pinnacle of a gloriously spellbinding collaboration.
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