Smile… Pacific

Smile… Pacific has always felt like a weird, slightly ornery entry in Kuepper’s run of solo albums. Parts of it almost return to the clarity and concision of Electrical Storm – “Everything In The World” reads like a pop update of that album’s minimalism – but there are also wild sideways leaps, like the lamplit romance of “Without You”, and the swirling electro-acoustic interruptions of “Starstruck”, which regularly butt heads with some rough-housing riffs. It’s a good reminder that Kuepper’s always been an experimentalist at heart, happy to take risks with his songs and their settings when the material demands some sidereal intervention. Even the bluesier numbers here, like the opening “Sinnerman”, are subtly warped.