Smote

Daniel Foggin, the main man behind Smote, is a master at creating immersive, meditative albums that when experienced in full can be all-consuming. It’s why we invited the band to Roadburn 2022 to perform Drommon in its entirety, and it’s why now – three years later – we are inviting them back to perform their latest opus, A Grand Stream, in full too. 

Sauntering out of the Rocket Recordings stable with this majestic offering, Smote are delivering in spades for the psych-heads who want to be transported somewhere transformative. They seem less focussed on the kind of psych that shoots you out into the stratosphere, and more intent on sinking into nature, lying on the leafy ground, feeling the grass between your fingertips and staring into the starless abyss above. It drones, it meanders through folk, it hypnotises, it rises and falls through heavy jams and intricate sounds. 

Whilst the album contains six individual tracks, they are best consumed as one organic whole. Forming that whole at Roadburn, the core members of Smote will be joined by four additional musicians: John Perry of GNOD and Holy Scum; Adam Sykes of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs; Lisa Ekelund of Flowers Must Die; and Ian Lynch of Lankum and One Leg One Eye.

Daniel tells us, “This eight piece performance will be the project rendered in its truest form yet, with the heaviness of live sound deepened by the joined forces of artists whose own work has influenced much of the Smote output. The depth of the studio recordings will be reconceived on stage for this special performance. It’ll be an honour to be able to perform the full album in such a way.”

– Becky Laverty