“Smile, the worst is yet to come / we’ll be lucky if we ever see the sun,” sounds like something your local End-of-Days hawker would shout from a street corner, but it’s quite different from the mouth of Mikky Ekko.
Bright and expansive, his recently released single, “Smile” is an ode to the loss of first loves. It’s sunny, it’s celebratory and it asks listeners to bear what petty pain they’re experiencing now, knowing there could always be something worse around the corner. Throughout the track, Ekko’s honey-sweet vocals wrap around you like a hug.
“Smile” will be a part of his debut album, Time, out this fall via RCA Records. Aided by the likes of Benny Blanco, Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio and producer Dennis Herring (among others), it promises to be something to smile about.