Smote share “Snodgerss”, taken from Songs From The Free House

SMOTE SHARES NEW TRACK “SNODGERSS“

SONGS FROM THE FREE HOUSE
AVAILABLE VIA ROCKET RECORDINGS ON 17TH OCTOBER

Following the announcement of Smote‘s fifth release for Rocket Recordings – Songs From The Free House – the band now shares a second taster of what’s to come in the form of “Snodgerss”, a flute-led jig-turned-pitch-dark-ritual. Their deepest and most fully-realised album to date, Songs From The Free House continues Smote’s exploratory mission into heaviness in all its forms, and sees it’s primary creator Daniel Foggin exploring a variety of new avenues.

Songs From The Free House features guest appearances from Sally Mason of the Smote live band on vocals and Ian Lynch from Lankum on Uillean pipes and will be released via Rocket Recordings on 17th October.

Forged from repetition and mantric intensity and possessed of formidable psychic fortitude, this album proves that the only retro-chic Smote indulge in is liable to go back several centuries. The megalithic monomania of last year’s A Grand Stream set a formidable precedent, and Smote’s live shows in its wake have gradually built a reputation as visionary seers building audial monuments by cranked amplification and atmospheric intensity alike. Yet these five gnostic serenades offer portals and paradigms anew.

Today Smote share the track “Snodgerss”. About the track, Daniel says,“Snodgerss roughly translates to ‘smooth grass’ or ‘long grass’. Waves and layers dance around each other and modulate against the wind, each blade moving individually but still in harmony with the rest. Such is the nature of the 3rd track on the album, blown out percussion dances around flute melodies and explosive guitars alike, each playing its own part in the movement.”

WATCH THE VISUALISER FOR “SNODGERSS” BELOW:

Upcoming Smote live dates:
17 Oct / Falmouth / KCM Church
18 Oct / Bristol / Down Stokes Festival
19 Oct / Preston / The Ferret
20 Oct / Glasgow / Hug and Pint
23 Oct / London / The Lexington *sold out*
24 Oct / Derby / Dubrek Studios
26 Oct / Newcastle / The Lubber Fiend
13 Dec / Todmorden / The Golden Lion

13 May / London / The 100 Club

In the world of Smote, going further out means going inward. Less a metaphysical journey into inner space, more a physical journey into the ground itself, converging with its roots and vibrations. What’s more, a journey right to the heart of its principal architect’s daily experience.

Daniel Foggin has spent the majority of his adult life working as a landscape gardener, frequently pursuing his trade in conditions of either baking heat or freezing cold and, as he puts it “more often covered in mud than not”. Yet the primal, meditative aspects of this work, the act of communing with nature, its histories and its depths have fuelled his art on a profound level. As Daniel himself relates; “I think the music is a direct reflection of this feeling that I haven’t quite managed to define yet, it is dirty and hard but there is an overwhelming comfort to it.”

Continuing Smote’s exploratory mission into heaviness in all its forms, Songs From The Free House sees Foggin exploring a variety of new avenues. Therefore, whilst listeners might align the pantheistic forays into drone-based abandon with previous travellers like Earth and Om, the influence of folk songs and legends, as well as electronic music make their presence felt. “I’ve been listening to heavy electronic stuff like Puce Mary and The Body” adds Daniel, “Stereotypically guitars are often seen as the instrument for “heavy” music, but the sheer force that’s available from electronics is something that will crumble most guitar centred music.” Elsewhere a more melodic vocal based structure is writ large amidst these rites and revelations, particularly on “The Linton Wyrm”, which proceeds from devotional chant to a potent conclusion, also inspired by Foggin’s everyday surroundings.

In terms of locating this album in place, this new foray also differs from Smote’s past work in terms of its recording – although once again Daniel played and sang almost everything on this record (bar guest appearances from Sally Mason of the Smote live band on vocals and Ian Lynch from Lankum on Uillean pipes), Songs From The Free House was recorded in Blank Studios with Sam Grant (Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs) and marked a journey from the DIY minimal approach of yore into more widescreen visions without compromising the singular intent within. “It was a pretty significant transition going into Blank and having Sam at the controls”, reflects Daniel, “It takes a lot of fatigue out of the process when someone else takes the reins. I think the album reflects the process; the songs are less free but also less exhausting. The satisfaction is there in bucket loads, but you don’t have to work as hard as a listener to get there.”

Wrought from the earth, transposed to the ether, and now shared with the world at large, this album marks a transcendental journey where Smote render ancient and modern indivisible. Just as traditional music is passed down through generations, Songs from the Free House is where the primal collides with the eternal.