Jordyn Blakely established herself as a drummer in other bands before stepping out on her own with the dark and looming lo-fi shoegaze pop of her solo project
Smile Machine. Fuzz-doused melodies driven by
Blakely's signature drum crash made up
Smile Machine's debut recordings, 2021's five-song EP
Bye for Now.
Based in Brooklyn,
Blakely played drums in various acts beginning around the early 2010s. She was a part of bands like
Butter the Children,
Stove,
Jackal Onasis, and others, and also worked as a hired gun.
Blakely began working on solo project
Smile Machine around 2019, tracking drums to tape and then assembling the rest of her songs on piecemeal computer programs. Her debut EP,
Bye for Now, was released in July 2021 on the Exploding in Sound label. ~ Fred Thomas