Bandcamp The cover of Mirage is a whole aesthetic in one image: four silhouettes standing in a desert under a burnt-orange sky full of planets, a giant fly agaric, a sun the colour of a fever dream. Sound of Smoke, from the Black Forest city of Freiburg, deal in exactly that kind of retro-psychedelic escapism, fuzz guitars and vintage synths and the warm, soulful voice of Isabelle Bapté at the centre of it, and their third album is a record that wants to take you somewhere. When it works, it does.
It works best when the band trust their analog instincts and let the tape breathe. “Fata Morgana” is the clearest example, an organic, roomy performance with a growling, dominant bass and dynamics left fully intact, and the run of “Wicked Games,” “Lush” and “San Junipero” is the album’s warm heart: earthy fuzz with surprisingly good string separation, dry wooden drums, a low end that rumbles without swallowing everything, none of it flattened for volume. Bapté’s voice sits at the front of these songs the way it should, and the krautrock-tinged grooves underneath have real pull. This is the Black Forest psych-soul the band promise, and it’s genuinely lovely.
The detours are where Mirage loses its footing. The more synth-driven tracks reach for a polished, spacey sheen and pay for it: “Endless Night” leans on sample-triggered-sounding drums and a wooly, imprecise low end, “Dancing Like Smoke” opens the record on a matte, bass-light haze that keeps its riffs at arm’s length, and “New Direction” collapses into over-compression in its dense final stretch. The closer “Zweierlei” pushes the vocals so far up and out that they float disconnected above the band. These aren’t disasters, but they’re a noticeably different, glossier record than the warm one running alongside them, and the two don’t always sit easily together.
Mirage is a warm, ambitious, frequently gorgeous heavy-psych record with a real vocalist and a real sense of place, held back from the top tier by an unevenness of production that lets a few tracks drift into polish the rest of the album is too smart to need. Taken for its highs, though, and there are plenty, it’s a genuine desert trip, and Sound of Smoke sound most like themselves exactly when they stop reaching for the mirage and just play. Follow the fuzz, not the shimmer.
Retro heavy-psych escapism with vintage synths, fuzz and Isabelle Bapté’s soulful voice at the centre. It works best when the band trust their analog instincts: “Fata Morgana” is organic and roomy with a growling bass and intact dynamics, and the run of “Wicked Games,” “Lush” and “San Junipero” is the warm heart, earthy fuzz with good string separation, dry wooden drums, a low end that rumbles without swallowing everything, none of it flattened for volume. The synth-driven tracks lose footing reaching for polish: “Endless Night” leans on sample-triggered-sounding drums and a wooly low end, “Dancing Like Smoke” opens on a matte bass-light haze, “New Direction” collapses into over-compression in its dense finale, and the closer “Zweierlei” floats the vocals disconnected above the band. A noticeably glossier record runs alongside the warm one and the two don’t always sit easily together. Gorgeous at its analog best, uneven when it chases the shimmer.
Standout tracks: Fata Morgana, Wicked Games, San Junipero
