In their self-titled EP, Desert'Smoke have crafted a sound that conjures feelings of a wild west shootout and the conflict of this conflict across four psychedelic tracks. Utilising distorted guitar shreds and floor lead drums they build a world in the minds eye of a bar brawl gone wrong and a search for recourse that never quite gets resolved.
The stage is set in track one ‘Fuzzy Txtitxu’, with its slow paced intro crafting an equilibrium in its uniform use of stoner rock conventions, with just enough ambience behind it to add apprehension of what is to come. When this song does kick in at 2:10, the band’s aim to introduce heavier conventions become clear, combining hard rock riffs with the distorted guitar to give the feeling of walking into a bustling western town. The drumline from around minute five was very pleasing to the ear too, as were the seamless guitar runs.
‘Gravity Absence’, however, is where this western feel becomes more apparent. The swinging drums do a lot of the heavy lifting in this aspect, but the aforementioned deeper guitars add to this vibe too. As the nine minutes of this track play out, the story of walking into a bar and finding oneself starting a duel begins to spin, with the track swelling to almost-chaos as shots ring out. The tempo increases with the stakes, as the consequences of these actions begin to become real, while the guitar shreds increase their chaos.
‘Blind Watcher’ feels like a real journey - looking out into a desolate landscape, only to walk back to the scene of the crime and wonder what to do about it. The melodies are dreamy and thoughtful, then at around 7:29 the track kicks in, and an audio crashout ensues like a reckoning. The outro to 'Blind Watcher' maintains its crescendo’s intensity, and the mind's eye wanders from the desert into the town once more knowing it will do something, but not knowing what.
The closing track '49th Steam Box' is the heaviest of the four, managing to instil some Deftones energy into its soundscape. This track feels like a plot in the making: darting about in the night to find comrades and plan an escape, before devolving into a short drum solo. The last minute of '49th Steam Box' is a wind down, as if going into hiding; in this story, the subject has chosen to try and escape what they have done, rather than face it head on.
All in all, Desert'Smoke is a piece of western whimsy that will fit well into any psychedelic or stoner rock festival setlist - it is easy to get lost in the images that the melodies concoct, as well as in the beautiful runs themselves.
Score: 7/10
Desert'Smoke will be released on March 28th 2025 via Raging Planet Records.
Words: Julia Brunton
Photos: Desert'Smoke
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