A.M.R leans on piano and chant for 'Smile'

Every scene has its comfort food. A.M.R’s new single, ‘Smile,’ arrived through Monstercat on 18 June 2021, and it doesn’t reach for much. The drums stay light for most of it, sitting under a run of soft piano changes that carries most of the weight, with a chant folded into the mix underneath for extra texture. The layers pile up into something closer to a soundscape than a straight house cut, built to soothe more than anything else, the kind of record that asks nothing of the room it’s played in.

It follows ‘Portrait of You,’ the single right before it in his catalogue. He’s been putting out music since 2008, which is long enough that a record this unhurried barely counts as a departure anymore. The release carries two versions of the same track, so there’s a choice for anyone who wants the longer sit instead.