Some Notes on Sunken Smile

Sunken Smile was born in Bristol in December 2025.

The songs had been hanging about for a little while before the band existed really. Notes in my journal, voice notes and things half remembered

Eventually they ended up in the rehearsal room with dan and louis

The room smelt of damp and old carpet, but you get used to it once the amps are turned up loud enough

We started a band through our chemistry, friendship and love of music, we all worked together and we worked on the idea of the band before we even sat in the damp rooms

In our first rehearsal things came together without even trying, we played 3 songs all the way through first time and it felt so good. They songs stopped trying trying to be anything and they were just us and it felt effortless

A lot of music feels over explained, over engineers, as far away from being as natural as possible. music needs to be human, and humans are not perfect

Sunken Smile prefers loose threads, rough edges and raw emotion

The name came from a feeling at work. starting a day with sunken eyes, ending with a sunken smile. the feeling of a feigned happiness when all you want to do is run . it’s the look on someone’s face when they’re caught between joy and sadness. A smile sinking

the of the songs are for those moments

we recorded our first demos in a small corridor of a room in Bristol with very little equipment, one microphone on a shoestring. louis’ broken finger delayed things a little like life can delay things. but somehow it made things grow

Things delay things. but it’s what you do when the things do the things they do

Still the songs were recorded and we felt after 6 months that we were a band .

Sunken Smile play slow songs. Some are quiet. Some aren’t. There are traces of jazz, rock and roll, shoegaze, indie, soul and whatever else has found its way in.l

it up to people to decide the rest.

The band’s first gig takes place at The Louisiana, Bristol, on 20th August 2026.

hope we’ll see you there.

Tags: Bristol band, Bristol music scene, indie band Bristol, shoegaze Bristol, live music Bristol, The Louisiana Bristol, alternative music Bristol, jazz trio Bristol, new Bristol band, Sunken Smile.