Over the course of the last several years, the Baltimore indie group Smoke Bellow returned to their native Australia and came back to the Land of Pleasant Living. Per a write-up on Ehse Records’ Bandcamp page for the group’s just-released “Isolation 3000,” the “inherent chaos of moving across the globe twice, plus the pull and influence of varied geography and culture” shaped the music they wrote while back in Melbourne from 2016-2017.
“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 write-up goes on to say. “The days writing would involve endless cups of tea, backyard chickens and visits from Australian wildlife.”
There’s a sense of that isolation, in the minimalist electronic, krautrock-influenced sound of “Alan 3000,” with vocalist Meredith McHugh, in a deep droning vocal, repeating the appeal to not stay outside. But she ends up lingering on and playing with that word, “outside,” in the closing half.
The Margaret Rorison-directed video, shot in Baltimore County, however, features a lone dancer (choreographer and performer Caroline McCrystle Marcantoni) reveling in the solitude and openness of the outdoors. Watch it below.
Though the album is out now, Smoke Bellow won’t be playing a proper release show until June 2, when they join Raw Silk, also releasing a record, at Current Space.
