Being one of the long-standing survivors of the “djent” scene, TesseracT have gone above and beyond to craft their own identity from the beginning, only to find acceptance in the progressive rock community as a whole. Returning to the spotlight, they’re bringing a new song with them.

“Smile” is an interesting track, in which it has the production and darker aesthetic of the band’s debut, One, but has the composition of their previous album, Polaris. As a fan since the Concealing Fate EP, this is more or less what I was expecting and hoping from the band at this point. Bassist Amos Williams further comments on the single:

“We chose this track as although it is part of a greater theme, and is in fact towards the end of a story arc, it stands alone very well. We have a solid idea of where we would like to take this track on the next album as it is in no way finished. It is merely one step in a journey.

“The verses and choruses stand very far apart from each other. There is a tension we wished to build through a minimalist approach, with small phrases that repeat against accompanying parts of different lengths. These undulate, seemingly getting lost against the nonconventional phrasing of the drums. All this is nothing new to TesseracT fans, but this time we have looked to really align the lyrical and musical messages.”

While it seems we’re a way off from an album, it’s definitely welcome to have more TesseracT to listen to. You can stream “Smile” below.