Here’s Everything We Know About: Sharpie Smile’s Album ‘The Staircase’

Name: VK Blanka
Start: 2025-5-15T20-20-00-00
End: 2025-5-15T22-22-00-00
Location: Sounds of Brazil

Giles O’Kane

Dylan Hadley and Cole Berliner made a name for themselves in the electro-pop space as Kamikaze Palm Tree. But as the musical era has ended, their latest venture is rising. Under the moniker Sharpie Smile, the duo is back and better than ever.

Later this month, Sharpie Smile will solidify their rebirth with the release of their debut full-length album, The Staircase. Inspired by “waves of futurist sound art on a dreamy, ethereal vision-quest through serpentine soul-terrain,” the project’s lead singles “The Slide” and “Love Or Worship” show Sharpie Smile mean business.

Pulling in production from Cesar Maria, vocal production and engineering by Cairo Marques-Neto, additional engineering from Spencer Hartling, and mixing by Mikey Weiland, Sharpie Smile’s return will not be in vain.

Continue below for the confirmed release date, tracklist, supporting tour dates, and more for Sharpie Smile’s album, The Staircase.

Release Date

Sharpie Smile’s The Staircase is due out 06/27/2025 via Drag City. Click here to pre-save or pre-order.

Tracklist

“Bells”
“Disappears”
“The Slide”
“Answer”
“Love Or Worship”
“So Far” featuring Leng Bian
“Brick Or Stone”
“New Flavor”
“The Letter”
“The Staircase”

Album Cover

Supporting Tour

Sharpie Smile will celebrate with the release of The Staircase with an album party in Los Angeles, California. Then in July, Sharpie Smile will travel across North America for an official 26-date tour. Continue below to view Sharpie Smile’s full show schedule.

06/30/2025 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon *
07/17/2025 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
07/19/2025 – Albuquerque, NM @ Black Wall Gallery
07/20/2025 – Marfa, TX @ Planet Marfa
07/22/2025 – Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studio
07/24/2025 – Kansas City, MO @ recordBar
07/25/2025 – St. Louis, MO @ Sinkhole
07/26/2025 – Nashville, TN @ DRKMTTR
07/27/2025 – Raleigh, NC @ Neptunes
07/28/2025 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd Music House
07/31/2025 – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
08/01/2025 – Boston, MA @ The Rockwell
08/02/2025 – Brooklyn, NY @ Littlefield
08/03/2025 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
08/05/2025 – Chicago, IL @ Hideout
08/06/2025 – Des Moines, IA @ Lefty’s Live Music
08/07/2025 – Omaha, NE @ Joslyn Castle Carriage House
08/08/2025 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
08/09/2025 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The DLC at Quarters
08/10/2025 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux Lounge
08/11/2025 – Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
08/12/2025 – Vancouver, BC @ Green Auto Music
08/13/2025 – Portland, OR @ Holocene
08/16/2025 – San Francisco, CA @ 4 Star Theater
08/18/2025 – Sacramento, CA @ Cafe Colonial
08/21/2025 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
08/22/2025 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom

* – album release show

may, 2025

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thu15may8:00 pmthu10:00 pmVK Blanka8:00 pm - 10:00 pm Sounds of Brazil, 204 Varick Street

thu15may8:00 pmthu11:00 pmRuby Haunt8:00 pm - 11:00 pm MilkBoy, 1100 Chestnut Street Event Organized By: Rising Sun Presents

fri16may8:00 pmfri11:59 pmJapanese BreakfastMelancholy Tour8:00 pm - 11:59 pm The Met Philadelphia, 858 N Broad Street

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(Friday) 8:00 pm - 11:59 pm

Location

The Met Philadelphia

858 N Broad Street

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A solo moniker for Philadelphia musician Michelle Zauner, Japanese Breakfast is known for her artfully experimental, deeply intimate brand of indie pop. Taking a break from her band Little Big League, she debuted in 2013 with the melodically lo-fi cassette release June. Along with further work with Little Big League, she has continued to expand her sonic palette, weaving in atmospheric synths, electric guitars, and electronics on 2016's Psychopomp and 2017's Soft Sounds from Another Planet. In 2021, Zauner hit number two on the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list with her memoir, Crying in H Mart, which found her exploring her Korean heritage in the wake of her mother's death from cancer. On the heels of her memoir, Japanese Breakfast released a companion album, Jubilee. Also that year, she supplied the score to the video game Sable. Born in 1989 in Seoul, South Korea to a Korean mother and Jewish-American father, Zauner grew up in Eugene, Oregon, where her parents moved when she was still an infant. Later, she attended Bryn Mawr college and played in several indie rock bands before forming the group Little Big League around 2011. In 2013, she moved back home to Oregon to help care for her mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer. It was during this period that she initially started Japanese Breakfast as part of a month-long, song-a-day writing challenge. The result was 2013's June, an intimate set of melodic, electric guitar-accompanied lo-fi tunes issued on cassette by Ranch Records. She continued to write solo and with her band, releasing Japanese Breakfast's sophomore album, Where Is My Great Big Feeling?, and the Seagreen Records cassette American Sound, in the summer of 2014. Little Big League's Tropical Jinx arrived that October. With a varied palette including markedly bigger, synth-boosted sounds that bridged lo-fi and indie pop, Japanese Breakfast's Yellow K Records debut, Psychopomp, was released in the spring of 2016. The album dealt with the emotional fallout of her mother's death, and was, in Zauner's mind, the one and only Japanese Breakfast record. She soon changed her mind, signed with Dead Oceans (which re-released Psychopomp to a wider audience), and began work on another album with the help of producer Craig Hendrix, who had also helmed Little Big League's debut LP. The pair played the bulk of the instruments on the record and went for a much bigger sound, taking the project out of the bedroom and into a large space. An expansive mix from indie pop alchemist Jorge Elbrecht made it sound even larger, as Zauner delved into themes like grief, dead pop stars, outer space, and moving on. Soft Sounds from Another Planet was released by Dead Oceans in July 2017, hitting the upper reaches of multiple critics' end-of-year lists. Further sessions with Hendrix -- this time with a sprightly, pop-focused, string- and horn-bolstered sound -- led to the completion of another record in 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused Jubilee's release to be delayed until June 2021, when it debuted at number seven on both the Independent and Alternative albums charts. Productive as ever, Zauner used the downtime to write a memoir, Crying in H Mart, which found her exploring her Korean heritage in the wake of her mother's death. Released several months prior to Jubilee, the book reached number two on the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list. Also, in September 2021, Japanese Breakfast supplied the soundtrack to indie game developer Shedworks' and publisher Raw Fury's video game Sable. - Biography by Matt Collar

sat17may8:00 pmsat11:00 pmRaveenaWhere The Butterflies Tour In The Rain8:00 pm - 11:00 pm Brooklyn Steel, 319 Frost Street

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(Saturday) 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm

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Brooklyn Steel

319 Frost Street

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With a smooth, dreamy approach to her blend of R&B and sophisticated adult pop, Raveena's lyrics focus on empowerment and self-love. She made her full-length debut with Lucid in 2019, and its companion EP, Moonstone, followed a year later. While bolstering her sound with stylistic influences including Bollywood and the production influence of artists like Timbaland and M.I.A., Raveena remained in intimate surroundings on her major-label debut, 2022's Asha's Awakening. The single "Pluto" appeared in 2024, incorporating strings, traditional Indian instruments, and touches of jazz into her smooth R&B sound. Born in Massachusetts and raised in Queens, New York and Stamford, Connecticut, Indian-American songwriter Raveena Aurora started pursuing music seriously after moving to New York to study at the NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Inspired by artists like Sade, Corinne Bailey Rae, and Asha Puthli, she explored a variety of sounds before settling into a stylish, soothing version of R&B. Her debut EP, Shanti, appeared on House Music in 2017. Raveena followed it with her first album, Lucid, on her own Moonstone Recordings with distribution by Empire in mid-2019. A second EP, Moonstone, arrived on Moonstone Recordings/Empire in 2020. So named for the gemstone's healing properties, it was tracked during the same sessions as her debut album. Recorded after relocating to Los Angeles, the single "Tweety" saw release on 12Tone in 2021. Signing with Warner, Raveena made her major-label debut with the full-length Asha's Awakening in February 2022. Alongside fortified production and broader base of stylistic influences, it included appearances from Vince Staples, Asha Puthli, and Tweaks. She played her first ever show in India in Mumbai at Lollapalooza India in early 2023, and later that year she was featured on the King Krule track "Seagirl." She returned with a new song of her own in May 2024, releasing "Pluto," which wove instruments like swarmandal and electric sitar into its subtly jazzy R&B palette. - Biography by Marcy Donelson

sun18may8:00 pmsun11:00 pmRaveenaWhere The Butterflies Tour In The Rain8:00 pm - 11:00 pm Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden Street