Sadsmiles – Eyes Over There (Songbroker) (13th Floor Album Review)
On their quietly assured debut album Eyes Over There, Sadsmiles, the collaborative project of Mahoney Harris and Wayne Bell, offer a collection of songs that reward stillness and attentiveness. With Harris on lead vocals and Bell playing every instrument, the album is a notebook of understatement: poetic, emotionally intelligent, and beautifully unhurried.
Drawing on years of musical experience the duo recorded and self produced the album. For listeners familiar with Harris’ solo work, especially We Didn’t Feel Alone, her hallmark blend of lyrical restraint and intimate delivery is instantly recognisable. Here, that sensibility is paired with Bell’s minimal, textured arrangements. Bell’s past experience with artists like Dave Dobbyn, Tim Finn, and Bic Runga clearly informs the album’s refined, organic instrumentation and each sonic choice enhances the lyrical world.
Lyrically, the album lives in the spaces between people and events, those moments where connection is almost made, or just missed. That central tension is explored immediately in Came Close, with Harris repeating the title: “We came close came close to the warning bell… came close to making it right.” The steady percussion provides momentum, and the looping phrases and gentle layering evoke memory’s tendency to replay what-ifs.
That same sense of near stillness carries through to Brighter Day, where a steady drumbeat and shimmering guitar provide a bed for the soft plea: “Hold my breath and wait for change / Hope, hoping for a brighter day.” The music doesn’t force resolution but invites quiet perseverance.
Eyes Over There, the title track, is among the most sonically nuanced. A descending guitar line, slow reverberations, and a touch of country twang hold space for a movement from resignation, “nothing to celebrate here,” to the possibility of hope, “there’s something to celebrate here.” The ability to bring to life these small, and significant, emotional shifts is a key strength of the album.
Lighter textures arrive with Summertime, where a brighter guitar tone and crackling vocals evoke something gently nostalgic. In contrast, Bring It Back draws on storytelling. Harris sings, “Looking back we were scared to pull up the shades / And reveal the vulnerability it really takes” whilst guitar and drum accents enrich the lyrics’ emotional terrain.
On Safe Haven, softly strummed guitars and conversational phrasing, “This doesn’t have to be the last word” suggest comfort rather than solution. The music complements this, by providing subtle emotional cues, with shifting chords or a single ringing note to re-centre the mood.
The emotional centrepiece is Friends Far Away Die, a meditation on loss, distance, and memory. Synths create an eerie wash, while percussion lends a ticking tension. The lyrics “How vast the Pacific! / small blue slippers lying on the white sofa” balance poetic language and domestic specificity masterfully.
Wiser challenges the self congratulatory noise of the modern world: “Everybody’s got wiser / I don’t buy it… turn off the noise and give us some space.” Ironically, that’s precisely what the music does by wrapping firm truths in warm, soft textures, creating space to pause and reflect.
The album’s longest track, Final Words, offers a cautious hope, “The world is just a wound-up ball of string… / I would like to think we could pick it up again.” Echoing guitars and layered synths create a swelling atmosphere, whilst light percussive taps give the music energy, without disrupting the album’s meditative clarity.
The album turns inwards with the final track, Heart Beating. Minimalist bass notes and shimmering synths emphasise the vocal melody. The lyrics speak of listening to your own heart, and hearing it “strong and slow”. The track affirms resilience and grace, and is a poised close, lyrically, vocally and sonically to the album’s emotional content.
Eyes Over There is a soft sounding album with a deep emotional reach. Each song gives shape to contemplation, with Bell’s arrangements anchoring and amplifying Harris’s poetic lyrics and nuanced vocals. Through repetition, space, and careful arrangement, Sadsmiles invite us to pause, to feel, and perhaps, to heal a little, one quiet moment at a time.
John Bradbury
Eyes Over There is available on all good digital sites from July 18, 2025.
