by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Sometimes your favorite new releases come when you least expect them. Open For Business, the latest album from Baltimore-via-Australia’s Smoke Bellow, is that kind of record that makes you want to stop everything and listen with undivided attention. This is the band’s fourth album overall and their first for Trouble In Mind Records (Mountain Movers, FACS, Writhing Squares), set for release on September 17th. Their sound can best be described as minimalist, but the record is far from sparse as they weave and loop melodies into pastiches of psych, post-punk, dream pop and kosmiche exploration. Their sound is their own, oscillating between mesmerizing repetition and soft arrangements that feel both lush and expansive, focusing on their rhythmic compositions. The core duo of Meredith McHugh and Christian Best have bounced back and forth between Australia and the US over the years, but have reconvened in Baltimore once more, together with drummer Emmanuel Nicolaidis to create an album that finds its magic painting just outside the lines.
“Fee Fee” is Open For Business’ first single and opening cut, a song that sets the tone for what lies ahead without giving up all of Smoke Bellow’s tricks. It’s a great song to get you immediately hooked, pulling you into their world where ambitious vision and textural simplicity come together. The band instantly make good on their effort to push their rhythms to the forefront, engaging us with a warm groove that slides and shifts without ever losing focus. There’s a great amount of subtle detail in the band’s creation and “Fee Fee” brings it life with layered sounds, skronks, and rattled jumps from one moment to the next. It all retains it’s fluidity as they pull you ever deeper into the fold.
Speaking about the track, the band said “This song came together in a flash. It was partially inspired by frenetic sound collages of The Flying Lizards. This was one of the last songs we wrote for the record. The personality of the record had been established at this point, and it kind of dictated where we should go with the song."