ISOLATION 3000
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ISOLATION 3000
Since Smoke Bellow’s debut release Blooming/Middling in 2014, core members Meredith McHugh and Christian J. Best have relocated from Baltimore USA to Melbourne Australia and back again. The inherent chaos of moving across the globe twice, plus the pull and influence of varied geography and culture have shaped this latest release, ISOLATION 3000, immeasurably. These new perspectives have led to an entirely new writing process, drawing from 70s/ 80s NY post punk, high minded pastoral krautrock, modern minimalist composition, as well as west African guitar groups.
ISOLATION 3000 was written over the summer of 2016/2017 in a quintessentially Australian backyard shed. The record's title is a reference to the conditions it was created in; a musical summary of two people feeling the effects of being uprooted from their former musical community in Baltimore. The days writing would involve endless cups of tea, backyard chickens and visits from Australian wildlife. Similarly, the record was recorded in a Bush cabin just outside of Sydney, pitched in a small clearing between Eucalypts, with long-time friend Todd Dixon. This release is in many ways an attempt to reconnect with a sense of home and place.