Scottish pop famously takes a chunk of its inspiration from America's west coast. Sometimes the traffic goes the other way. Which is where Smiles' debut 7" comes in - Black Hearts is ringing guitars and punchy powerpop just like Teenage Fanclub's God Knows It's True:
They play a similar trick on Cold Cold Heart - sludgy riffs and loose-limbed solos, like how the Fannies hopped on Dinosaur Jr's, um, bandwagon early on. But these pop songs were made in California - like The Beach Boys (which the clever money says they got their name from), they're sad songs that sound happy.
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