Listening to Sons of Martha’s new single, “Samurai Smile,” feels a bit like finding a beautiful, slightly unnerving porcelain doll tucked away in a toolbox – all sharp edges and unexpected fragility. This North London outfit promised a harder sound, and they deliver; guitars chew and churn with a satisfying grit reminiscent of early ’90s Manchester swagger, but filtered through a distinctly modern unease. The rhythm section lays down a groove that’s both infectious and relentlessly driving, pushing everything forward like a tide pulling you out.
But it’s the story stitched into the fabric of the sound that really snags the attention. We’re following this figure, wrestling with something vast and chaotic internally – a “fiery ocean,” they call it. That contrast, the fierce inner landscape versus the presented exterior, is the track’s pulsing heart. The smile isn’t warmth; it’s armour, maybe camouflage. It reminds me, oddly, of the determined cheerfulness on ancient Roman theatrical masks – hiding god-knows-what turbulence behind a fixed expression.
There’s this undercurrent, drawn from the Kuchisake-onna legend (the slit-mouthed woman, for those unfamiliar), of danger masked by a question – “Am I beautiful?” Here, it feels less like vanity and more like a desperate plea for anchorage in a world, perhaps this city sprawl they hint at, that threatens to swallow her whole.
The melodic drive carries the weight of this narrative without buckling. There’s tension in the vocals, a straining against unseen forces, yet the hook lodges itself firmly in your brain. It’s dynamic, certainly, shifting between confrontational bursts and something more reflective, almost weary. It doesn’t offer easy answers or resolutions.
Instead, “Samurai Smile” leaves you contemplating the masks we all wear, the internal wars fought behind placid expressions. What hidden strengths, or terrors, fuel the everyday journeys we witness, mistaking survival for simple movement?
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