“The Shadow of Your Smile” (Elli K song)

ElliK_TheShadowOfYourSmile1_rop — Elli K, photo courtesy the artist

Elli K is an artist from South Korea but her single “The Shadow of Your Smile” sounds like it has some roots in 60s and 70s French pop. The lush production with light strings and subtle bell tones, brushed percussion and K’s dynamic, breathy vocals is an aural time machine—but one that takes you out of normal reality into an alternative existence where the time to take a deep dive into the depths of where one’s memories and emotions can be experienced through the lens of having had the time to process and untangle those especially strong connections in your mind and extract what seems most important for you in the present. The effect of the track shares some of the same enveloping aesthetic, conceptualization and integrated execution of a Sofia Coppola film. This bears out especially in the music video for the song where every element, every texture, nuance and cadence builds to a powerful if gentle whole. Watch the video for “The Shadow of Your Smile” on YouTube, connect with Elli K at the links below and look out for Elli K’s latest album of vivid emotional portraits, Love Collage.