REVIEW: Smote - Songs From The Free House

SMOTE seem to draw their inspirations from the Earth. From the foundations and the vibrations that the world has to offer. There’s a sense of the ancient ritualistic forms intertwined with the trials and tribulations of modern everyday life. Here electronic elements embolden the rhythmic chanting of old. Welcome to Songs From The Free House.

SMOTE’s main man DANIEL FOGGIN combines psychedelic drone-led magic with traditional folk roots and glimpses of electronic influence that embellish the band’s offering. This album is comforting, experimental, showcases all kinds of heaviness in sound, with moments that are unsettling but commanding. Songs From The Free House is their fifth release in four years. This particular album was recorded in Blank Studios with SAM GRANT of PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS PIGS, noted as being a first for SMOTE, who are used to being fully hands on with their projects.

Intro track The Cottar comes at you in three parts. To begin with you’re thrown into a realm of wavy electric taunts with a hint of impending doom. By the middle of the track you’re faced with something urgent, flourishing. For act III there’s distortion charging from note to note, with flickering buzzing, blinkering, that in parts is uncomfortable as the track is brought to a close.

The Linton Wyrm tells the legend from the borders of a large serpent, dating back to the 12th Century. With repeated drony vocals (including a guest appearance by SMOTE’s live band’s SALLY MASON) and doomy guitars alongside trancelike electronics, peaking through euphoric chorals makes for a very satisfying track. The guitar loops with a welcome little solo flourish and once the tune gets going the continual melody is so welcome you don’t want the track to end. The trashing of the Wyrm that supposedly decided the unusual landscape in the surrounding area can be felt in the rumbling of the incantations.

The third and shortest track Snodgerss feels like you’re being chased through the forest, it becomes frantic and uncontrolling. Percussion drives the song forward, and is punctuated with an abrupt end. Chamber is soundtrack worthy, you can hear the flute over a low drone that sounds like a mystical adventure is afoot. Around the four and a half minute mark it blends into an electronic pattern, then into haunting vocals. Archaic chanting builds into bursts of precise drumming and doom distorted guitars that feel ghostly. The final offering Wynne is reverberating and smattering with psychedelic wavering that drowns out distant voices. The sound of the Uilleann pipes lent by IAN LYNCH of LANKUM flutter through the latter end of the track. 

Repetition becomes homely and embeds itself in your being as you take this album in. From start to finish you are confronted with a body of art that feels like an outlet, that you can relate to and shelter in. Although SMOTE's album tour cycle has already begun, there are a scatter of dates throughout the UK until the end of the month that promise an intense and unforgettable evening.

Score: 8/10

Songs From The Free House was released on the 17th October via Rocket Recordings.

Words: Danielle Henderson

Photos: Smote