Peter J Smyth – Black Smoke

Album Review by Will Fitzpatrick | 25 May 2016
Album title: Black Smoke
Artist: Peter J Smyth
Label: God Unknown
Release date: 3 Jun

Taking a break from the deafeningly loud space rock of sonic explorers Mugstar, Peter Smyth goes it alone. With that band having gifted us the fearsome Magnetic Seasons already this year, it’s a pleasant surprise to find that Black Smoke stands in stark contrast – a collection of soft folk sketches, powered by gentle, fingerpicked acoustic guitars and interspersed with electronic mutterings, pricking the serene atmosphere with the smallest yet sharpest hint of menace. 

Lyrically switching between impressionistic imagery and plaintive bursts of word-associative outpourings, it touches on themes from selling out (Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is) to nature’s uncanny knack of providing the perfect metaphor in trying times (Red Missiles). It’s the instrumental Joan that perfectly encapsulates the album’s addictive melancholy, however; sparse piano notes drizzled over an enticingly graceful framework, demonstrating his appreciation for space and texture.

There are moments when fragility threatens to spill over into uncertainty, but he needn’t sound so worried. Black Smoke is engaging and absorbing – an unexpected treat from within the ranks of a band who continue to surprise us. 

http://www.godunknownrecs.com