Tracklisting:

1. Hold That Thought – Joyride!
2. Betsy’s Back – Bloody Death Skull
3. Cold Spell – Lunar Quiet
4. Go To Sleep – Skinny Blonde
5. Limbaud – American Enthusiasm
6. Saurkraut – Your Dog
7. Ache – Dæva
8. Bound By Blood – Hollow Twin
9. Florida’s Warm – Day Joy
10. The Dark Side of the Holy Ghost – Young Elk
11. The Park Behind Walmart  – Boy Scouts
12. Fear & Force – Vagabon
13. Stanton Park – Luke De-Sciscio
14. uuu – Field Medic
15. Meeting Points at 2AM – dné
16. The Rain Thief – Honey Stretton
17. The Stranger – Tyler Butler
18. Nervousness Fangs – Will Johnson
19. Constellation – Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
20. The Dark Streets of Newark – Monarch Mtn
21. Violet – Roddy Hart & the Lonesome Fire
22. Work – naps
23. Passage of Old – Seabuckthorn
24. We’re Stuck With The Beauty – Winter Villains
25. Why They Call You Blue – Jordan Buchell

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The release defies simple description, with folk and drone meeting a modest grandeur that would be at home in the neoclassical canon. Like all Lost Tribe Sounds releases, it’s music that’s meticulously planned and executed, dense compositions that are enmeshed with themes and narrative arcs despite their wordless nature. The vibe is difficult to pin down – at times mystical and hallucinogenic, others downright ominous. As Cartwright describes, “Recorded & mixed over a period of two weeks whilst feeling the heat (both literally & politically) I opted for a threatening, even apocalyptic EP title. Saying that, I think most of these songs can offer up a tranquility to counteract the gravity of these uncertain times, a calm inside the eye of a storm.”

The title track introduces this thematic juxtaposition, and, despite the beautiful guitar work, darkness is never far away. Behind lurks a sound like the blare of a siren, as if warning of incoming terror, a tornado or air raid.

‘Seen As a Black Road’ bubbles with rustic guitar, coming across as sparse Americana until synths rise beyond like some spectral light in a desert sky. ‘The Good River’ wheezes and breathes its way to life, the percussion a steady pulse in the background, the 12-string guitar morphing into a mournful dirge. To my mind ‘Returnee’ sounds autumnal, the guitar dipping and swirling like a cascade of golden brown leaves, while ‘Overgrown Courtyard’ is dark and pensive, the rightly wound lead guitar tumbling over foreboding drone. The tape closes with ‘Passage Of Old’, which sounds morosely grand and somehow more European than the other songs on the album, like the theme of some beleaguered monarch watching his kingdom burn from a hilltop.

You can get I Can See the Smoke now on cassette or digital download from Lost Tribe Sound, via the Seabuckthorn Bandcamp page.

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