The Smoke - Blood Orange

Author

Alison Sciascia

Published

Tuesday 14th April

Melbourne quintet, The Smoke, are unabashed in their hopeful release of new LP ‘Blood Orange’. This their first album makes an attempt at touching on obviously Aussie pub rock linings while filling the space with ambitious blues solos and more dronal than tonal vocal slurrings. Admittedly the simple yet elegant guitar stylings of Luke Cartwright save many of these songs from mediocrity, applying Clapton like licks with ‘Stoned on Fire’ is a particularly fine example of this.

At times it seems that the band is following a branded garage rock formula but in their moments of clarity and vision the album dredges some jewels from the fillers. ‘Sweet Spanish’, recently named ‘Single of the Week’ by Drum Media, gets the groove shaking with a funky bass, two tone guitar support and a beat driven blues chorus. Toning it down some is album titled ‘Blood Orange’, whose even tempo and swirling blues melodies make this a song I want to hear again and again. Although two songs do not a great album make, should these boys keep down the track of these memorable tunes then perhaps album two will be an unlikely Pandora’s Box.