Keep On Smiling (album)

Following their fourth album False Alarm (2019), the band began new recording sessions with Jacknife Lee at studios in London and at Lee's studio in Topanga, California. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the process; guitarist Sam Halliday and bassist Kevin Baird both became fathers during lockdown, while vocalist Alex Trimble, based in London, invested in building a home studio. Halliday later said the band were "too busy just surviving" to produce a "COVID album", and instead reconnected toward the end of restrictions, sharing ideas over email in what he described as "a throwback to making demos in Alex's garage".^[1]

Halliday noted that the band deliberately kept the instrumentation minimal: "We each played our instruments, and that's it. There weren't loads of other elements thrown in just because we could."^[2]

The album was announced on 16 June 2022 alongside the release of lead single "Wonderful Life", accompanied by a music video directed by Alice Isaacs. "Lucky" followed as the second single on 28 July 2022, and "Everybody's Cool" was released on album day with a video directed by Jack Pell.

The album was released digitally on 2 September 2022. A limited-edition vinyl pressing of 5,000 copies followed on 4 November 2022, available in four colours; the band subsequently destroyed the master recordings, ensuring no further physical editions would be produced.^[3]

Shortly after the album's release, the band cancelled their European tour dates after bassist Kevin Baird revealed he had been battling an "incurable autoimmune disease" and required surgery.^[4] The band's North American tour was subsequently also cancelled.^[5]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	62/100[6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Clash	7/10[8]
DIY	6/10[9]
NME	[10]
Pitchfork	4.7/10[11]
The Line of Best Fit	6/10[12]
The Daily Telegraph	[13]
The Skinny	6/10[14]

Keep On Smiling received mixed reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the album holds a weighted average score of 62 out of 100 based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[15]

Matt Collar of AllMusic rated the album four stars out of five and wrote that "there's certainly a hooky immediacy to much of Keep on Smiling, but it's given depth by Two Door Cinema Club's increasingly artful and sardonic pop approach."^[7] Emma Harrison of Clash rated it seven out of ten, calling it "punchy, peppy, and undeniably positive" and "an exuberant and life-affirming ambitious album that demonstrates that if in doubt, you have to choose happiness."^[8] Rhian Daly of NME gave the album three stars out of five, writing that "when things get serious on this record, the band stumble and the smiles begin to slip."^[10] Evan Rytlewski of Pitchfork gave it 4.7 out of 10, writing that "Keep On Smiling's glossy veneer never disguises its particle-board center."^[11] Lana Williams of The Line of Best Fit wrote that "though impressive and vaguely explorative, the record falls slightly short of the mark for an outfit aiming to reinvent themselves."^[12]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Keep On Smiling.^[16]

• Alex Trimble – vocals, guitar, percussion, keyboards
• Kevin Baird – bass guitar, keyboards
• Sam Halliday – guitar

• Ben Thompson – drums, percussion

• Jacknife Lee – additional production, keyboards, guitar, programming, percussion, recording, mixing^[c]
• Matt Bishop – recording, editing^[d]
• Will Purton – recording assistance at RAK Studios^[e]
• Ben Loveland – recording assistance at The Bridge Studio^[f]
• Dan Grech-Marguerat – additional production, mixing^[g]
• Jonny Breakwell – recording^[h]
• Triss Ellis – recording assistance^[i]

• Alan Fears – painting
• Annelise Keestra – design