LA synth-pop duo Sharpie Smile on Drag City.
"Sharpie Smile is Dylan Hadley and Cole Berliner. They met in 2015, a pair of musically-adept nonconformist teenagers, forming a songwriting and performance duo. Writing initially for a project called Kamikaze Palm Tree, with Dylan on drums and Cole on guitar, they produced two albums of thorny, ear-wormy art-rock. While continuing to play shows and write, there was some session work with other acts (Cate Le Bon, A. Savage, Tim Presley’s White Fence). And then a shimmering new direction came into view...
For Sharpie Smile, that direction is up. The Staircase is a lush and energizing contemporary pop record, scaling an ambitious gradient of minimal/maximal electronic production and deep feels. It’s a dreamy and ethereal trip through something (you’re not sure what yet), on a radiant melodic raft. Reality is breaking and rebirth is happening, one piece at a time — essential questions deconstructed and pieced together again. Like scanning a new x-ray image of yourself."
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LA synth-pop duo Sharpie Smile on Drag City.
"Sharpie Smile is Dylan Hadley and Cole Berliner. They met in 2015, a pair of musically-adept nonconformist teenagers, forming a songwriting and performance duo. Writing initially for a project called Kamikaze Palm Tree, with Dylan on drums and Cole on guitar, they produced two albums of thorny, ear-wormy art-rock. While continuing to play shows and write, there was some session work with other acts (Cate Le Bon, A. Savage, Tim Presley’s White Fence). And then a shimmering new direction came into view...
For Sharpie Smile, that direction is up. The Staircase is a lush and energizing contemporary pop record, scaling an ambitious gradient of minimal/maximal electronic production and deep feels. It’s a dreamy and ethereal trip through something (you’re not sure what yet), on a radiant melodic raft. Reality is breaking and rebirth is happening, one piece at a time — essential questions deconstructed and pieced together again. Like scanning a new x-ray image of yourself."
LA synth-pop duo Sharpie Smile on Drag City.
"Sharpie Smile is Dylan Hadley and Cole Berliner. They met in 2015, a pair of musically-adept nonconformist teenagers, forming a songwriting and performance duo. Writing initially for a project called Kamikaze Palm Tree, with Dylan on drums and Cole on guitar, they produced two albums of thorny, ear-wormy art-rock. While continuing to play shows and write, there was some session work with other acts (Cate Le Bon, A. Savage, Tim Presley’s White Fence). And then a shimmering new direction came into view...
For Sharpie Smile, that direction is up. The Staircase is a lush and energizing contemporary pop record, scaling an ambitious gradient of minimal/maximal electronic production and deep feels. It’s a dreamy and ethereal trip through something (you’re not sure what yet), on a radiant melodic raft. Reality is breaking and rebirth is happening, one piece at a time — essential questions deconstructed and pieced together again. Like scanning a new x-ray image of yourself."
LA synth-pop duo Sharpie Smile on Drag City.
"Sharpie Smile is Dylan Hadley and Cole Berliner. They met in 2015, a pair of musically-adept nonconformist teenagers, forming a songwriting and performance duo. Writing initially for a project called Kamikaze Palm Tree, with Dylan on drums and Cole on guitar, they produced two albums of thorny, ear-wormy art-rock. While continuing to play shows and write, there was some session work with other acts (Cate Le Bon, A. Savage, Tim Presley’s White Fence). And then a shimmering new direction came into view...
For Sharpie Smile, that direction is up. The Staircase is a lush and energizing contemporary pop record, scaling an ambitious gradient of minimal/maximal electronic production and deep feels. It’s a dreamy and ethereal trip through something (you’re not sure what yet), on a radiant melodic raft. Reality is breaking and rebirth is happening, one piece at a time — essential questions deconstructed and pieced together again. Like scanning a new x-ray image of yourself."
Estimated Release Date: 27 June 2025
Please note that shipping dates for pre-orders are estimated and are subject to change
LA synth-pop duo Sharpie Smile on Drag City.
"Sharpie Smile is Dylan Hadley and Cole Berliner. They met in 2015, a pair of musically-adept nonconformist teenagers, forming a songwriting and performance duo. Writing initially for a project called Kamikaze Palm Tree, with Dylan on drums and Cole on guitar, they produced two albums of thorny, ear-wormy art-rock. While continuing to play shows and write, there was some session work with other acts (Cate Le Bon, A. Savage, Tim Presley’s White Fence). And then a shimmering new direction came into view...
For Sharpie Smile, that direction is up. The Staircase is a lush and energizing contemporary pop record, scaling an ambitious gradient of minimal/maximal electronic production and deep feels. It’s a dreamy and ethereal trip through something (you’re not sure what yet), on a radiant melodic raft. Reality is breaking and rebirth is happening, one piece at a time — essential questions deconstructed and pieced together again. Like scanning a new x-ray image of yourself."