History / Bio of Artist

It still amazes me how many indie fans do not know anything about the Sacramento, California band Rocketship. The group came together in 1993, and was built around singer, guitarist, and songwriter Dusty Reske but included bassist Verna Brock, keyboardist Heidi Barney, and drummer Jim Rivas. Reske has said the band’s sound grew partly out of a Felt song called “Song for William S. Harvey” which fits as you can hear the organ-heavy, quietly melancholy vibe of that influence all over what Rocketship became. A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness didn’t come together overnight, as the band had only released the single “Hey Hey Girl” on the Bus Stop label back in 1994 before building toward this classic.

Reske and his bandmates have talked about being into British shoegaze like Ride, Slowdive, and Chapterhouse but by the time they were making this record they had burned out on pure noise and wanted something more melodic and structured. The band came up on the Slumberland label’s early roster alongside acts that were part of the same Pacific Northwest indie path. Everything on this debut was written, recorded, and produced by Reske, giving the album a very unified feel for something that could have gone in a dozen directions.

“Rocketship built something here that sounds like nothing before or after it. Its melodic pop wrapped in organs and ambient drift, completely out of step with 1996 and completely timeless because of it.”

Album Description / Why It’s a Classic

A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness is one of those records that creates its own space before the first song even ends. Opener “I Love You Like the Way That I Used to Do” kicks in with bright, jangling guitars and co-vocals that immediately take you somewhere Rocketship built just for this album. Grunge was still dominating in 1996, so releasing something this melodic, emotionally open, and quietly experimental pushed against what was considered cool at the time. It paid off, as the album not only still holds up today but should earn even more respect the more you revisit it.

What I think is easy to miss on a casual listen is how weird this record actually is. The organs buzz through everything while ambient interludes drift in and break up the flow in a way that most indie bands (even today) would never attempt. The chord choices are unusual with seventh chords everywhere and things feel emotionally unresolved in the best possible way. You might think that it might be a harder album to enjoy but it pulls you in as it is so melodic, accessible, and hooky. That tension between strange and beautiful is what has kept people coming back and discovering this album to for three decades.

I actually think this album was quietly ahead of its time. You can hear the trails that Rocketship helped map in current groups like The Umbrellas, The Reds, Pinks and Purples, Launder, GUV, Hatchie and Chime School. Coming back to it now, you can hear the blueprint even more clearly with their intricate indie pop construction that is unafraid pf emotional sincerity and a willingness to let songs breathe and expand. It is the kind of record that sounds better with each new wave of music it ends up influencing.

Singles

This was not really a singles album in the traditional sense, but opener “I Love You Like the Way That I Used to Do” functions as a killer de facto lead introduction. It practically blueprints an entire decade of indie pop in about three minutes with its energy, dreamy blur, and the co-lead harmonies. If you play this track for someone who has never heard Rocketship, it is usually the one that hooks them immediately.

“Kisses Are Always Promises” and “Carrie Cooksey” both have that same immediate quality, songs that grab you on first listen with their more upbeat energy but reveal more texture with each return. None of them ever got serious commercial traction in 1996, but that is not really a surprise given what mainstream music culture looked like that year. It was a record that found some footing on the college radio scene that helped keep it alive until it slowly found the wider audience it deserved.

Deep Cuts

An eight-track album does not leave a lot of room for filler, and there really is none here. These are the tracks that reward the patient listener.

Artists With Similar Fire

If you are liking A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness then you should check out these artists:

Felt was cited by the band as a key influence, while Slowdive anchors the shoegaze side with similarly buried vocals. Stereolab’s organ tones and cool, understated presence also fit naturally here, while The Umbrellas and Chime School bring a more current take on jangly indie pop that will feel immediately familiar.

Rocketship delivered one of the best selling debut albums in Slumberland Records history. Prior to its release, the label issued the compilation Why Popstars Can’t Dance, which featured two early Rocketship tracks and helped build early buzz around the band. At the time, keyboards and synthesizers were largely avoided in indie music, often tied to ‘80s commercial pop. Dusty Reske pushed against that thinking, incorporating them into the band’s sound just as Stereolab was helping shift those boundaries.

What Has the Band Been Up To?

After the debut, the original lineup dissolved and Reske continued Rocketship largely as a solo project. He moved to Arcata in Northern California for a stretch, got involved in environmental activism, and recorded only sporadically. Garden of Delights came out in 1999 and pushed further into ambient territory. Here Comes… Rocketship followed in 2006, and then Thanks to You in 2019 which is the most fully realized release since the debut, featuring singer Ellen Osborn on several tracks and covering a lot of musical ground between Stereolab and Saint Etienne.

The 30th anniversary reissue is the second time Slumberland has revisited the catalog recently — the label also reissued the debut’s predecessor single and surrounding material not long ago. The band announced a string of West Coast tour dates that start this week, and now have finally confirmed an East Coast run, this Sept – Oct. with the dates below. Reske has said live performance has never been the most comfortable part of the job for him, which makes these tour dates feel genuinely meaningful. Eight years between live appearances is a long time, and the fact that they are coming back for five West Coast shows tied to this specific record says something about how much it still means to them.

About the Reissue

A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness (30th Anniversary Edition) was released on March 20, 2026 on Slumberland Records. The original eight tracks are back on vinyl and CD after the album had been out of print for years. You can still find the vinyl edition pressed on a limited white and bone swirl version at Slumberland or a metallic copper variant at Monorail Music (UK), Amoeba Music (US) and Disk Union (Japan). There is also a CD edition in an eco-friendly cardboard wallet is also available, freshly remastered and available in 24-bit/48kHz download as well. You can find a copy HERE.

This is the original eight-song album, not an expanded edition — no bonus tracks or extras. I actually like that direction because this album works so well as one complete statement plus it keeps the price point down. The priority here was getting it back in print and in good quality which Slumberland delivered.