Everyone You Know - Ain’t Smiled In Ages

Ain’t Smiled In Ages, the debut album from Everyone You Know, is a document of a big night out; from the anticipation that drags you through the working week up to the euphoria found under nightclub lights and straight through until the bittersweet comedown the morning after. It’s a heart on sleeve collection of boundary-pushing songs that burst with emotion, establishing siblings Rhys and Harvey as songwriters with a unique ability to distil the chaos and adventure of a Saturday night into a body of work built to last the test of time.

The brothers worked on the album out of their home studio, the same home studio that was used to make The Drive, She Don’t Dance and Our Generation. Their debut EP, Cheer Up Charlie, was released in 2018 and was followed by 2021’’s Just For The Times mixtape. They have had their music appear on FIFA 20, as well as playing Reading & Leeds and supporting Noel Gallagher. “Digging deep to express things we feel every weekend,” was EYK’s goal with Ain’t Smiled In Ages, vocalist Rhys explains. The album starts with “Proper Stuff,” a spiky statement song marking the group out, in their own words, as “by the people, for the people.” It’s a fiery, annoyed at everything declaration of war against fakers and wannabes that chews up TikTok chancers and content creators before spitting them down the drain. The line between the brothers on one side and everyone else on the other has been drawn.
That same bullish attitude can be found elsewhere on the album, too. There is the “super heavy, super hard” “Kiss The Sky,” that has echoes of The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy and is already proving to be a fan favourite at live shows. “Waiting,” meanwhile, is built around a sample of CeCe Peniston’s 90s house classic. EYK flip the original into a song about “dancing in the daydream” amid a chemical haze of love and devotion.

The moods, experiences and emotions of a big night out vibrate throughout Ain’t Smiled In Ages with co-writers David Sneddon and Theo Hutchcraft helping to craft the material. There are uplifting moments and moments of unbridled joy, sure, but there is a darkness that sits underneath them all. Rhys’s vocals, delivered in an almost spoken word fashion, navigate their way through the troubles that exist outside of the smoking areas and sticky-floored pubs. He took inspiration from real life and would record notes on his phone while on nights out himself.

“Think About His Mother” is dark and dramatic, filled with tension and the possibility of violence as Rhys tries to talk a chain-smoking friend out of making an impulsive mistake he’s bound to regret. His narrative sits on top of an electronic pulse producer Harvey says came after listening to Nine Inch Nails and their atmospheric use of synths that slowly build to an explosive climax. “We wanted the music to tell the story even if you took the lyrics away,” he says. “Hoodies & Hats,” meanwhile, acts as the emotional centre piece of the album. Written after his best mate’s mum passed away, Rhys raps: “It’s been a tough year. My best mate’s mum passed. He looks unharmed but it left her son scarred.” It’s a song about the way men deal with their problems and the importance of friends in times of grief. There’s a tenderness to the song, with its muted and vulnerable production and confession that “therapy ain’t going to help him get through it but the late nights with the drinking and the drugs are.”

“We all have our own ways of coping,” Rhys says of that song. “The album is about people you might look at and judge but underneath they’re great people.”

With references that range from Moby to Kendrick Lamar’s classic Good Kid Maad City via the ‘90s cult movie Human Traffic, Ain’t Smiled In Ages is an uncompromising vision of inner-city hedonism and the beating hearts of those living for the weekend. “This is the clearest vision of who we are and what Everyone You Know are about,” Rhys explains. “It’s not about chasing radio or trends, it’s about writing songs that connect with people and stand the test of time.” More than that, it’s for the loyal fans who have stuck by the boys while they worked to reach this point. “We haven’t had the opportunity to do this until now and we hope we’ve done them proud.”

Tracklist
1. Proper Stuff
2. The Drive
3. Holy (Interlude)
4. Waiting
5. Adored
6. All My Friends Are Taking Drugs
7. Kiss The Sky
8. Think About His Mother
9. One Call
10. Fear
11. Hoodies & Hats

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