"Smile" was produced by Michael-Philip Wojewoda, at the same time as he was juggling two other significant projects, Barenaked Ladies' "Gordon" and Rheostatics' "Whale Music". The album, which was recorded in just four days on a budget of just $5,000, spawned the band's only Top 40 charting single, "There You Go", which took off after a radio program director in Saskatchewan placed the song in rotation on his station. The album, a sprawling 21-song release which the band acknowledged would have been a double album if it had been released prior to the compact disc era, was compared by critics to Sonic Youth's influential "Daydream Nation". Fellow musicians also frequently praised the album; Milchem wore a Change of Heart T-shirt in Blue Rodeo's music video for "Rain Down on Me", Steven Page wore one in Barenaked Ladies' video for "Brian Wilson", and Andrew Scott wore one in Sloan's original video for "Underwhelmed".