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Garrett Yim's Zoom Lens label, launched in 2009, embraces the internet's ability to overcome geographic and linguistic boundaries. The Orange County resident's imprint has released music from performers based in the U.S., Japan, Singapore, and more, building a community of like-minded musicians. The same ethos is at play in Yim's music as Meishi Smile. The songs take influence from disparate sourcesâJapanese pop, experimental noise, lusher rock acts such as the Radio Dept.âand corrals them into something unified. For Meishi Smile, that means dream pop spiked with moments of aggression and melancholy, because being able to escape into a digital world of one's own doesn't erase the problems outside of it.

"Star", released by Japanese net-label Maltine Records, is one of the best distillations of Meishi Smile's sound yet. A clattering beat drives the song forward while Yim's heavily manipulated vocals crackle through like radio transmissions. Despite the skippy nature of "Star", Yim's words conceal plenty of longing: "Guilt is gone/ With days at rest/ If we could meet/ Let it be in dreams now." There are heavy sentiments crashing through, a good summation of the humanity at the core of Meishi Smile and Zoom Lens.
