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Oceans on Mars

by Smoke & Tea

supported by
Porous Collective
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David Howarth
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jett
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STUUUKES!!!
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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Limited edition CD version of "Oceans on Mars" by Smoke & Tea.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Oceans on Mars via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days

      $12 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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1.
Blueshift 10:18
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2.
Oceans on Mars 11:38
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3.
Kauai 43:14
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about

Together Bernard Farley and Patrick Blinkhorn form Smoke & Tea, an ambient music band based in Washington, DC that explore the genre with a depth of emotion that is as provocative as the expansive electronic textures they utilize to transport the listener to exotic aural destinations. It’s fitting then that when deciding how to ring in 2020 during a marathon 8 hour New Year’s Eve live set, they chose to play “Blueshift”, a song that fades in like The Milky Way coming into view in the night sky after a deep purple sunset. Farley’s ethereal vocals slowly elevate the intensifying layers of pulsating synthesizers and Blinkhorn’s raspy subsonic bass tones until the music surges like an explosive rocket catapulting an aircraft into space. The dramatic 10 minute opener of the duo’s second album, Oceans on Mars, captivates with an elegant urgency hinting at a turbulent, or perhaps, exhilarating future.

Meanwhile the title track lives up to its name as fuzzy transmissions of alien whispers reflect over an ocean of dusty sawtooth waves glimmering under the Martian moons. The patterns of which never quite repeat as they majestically ripple to the horizon. It’s a tranquil song that rewards repeated listens as the flute-like vocoder bubbles to the surface amongst the delicate buzzing swirls and pops.

Closing track “Kauai” is a sequel to “Oahu” from their first album, Sunday Afternoon. Using special software to turn the original into an epic 40 minute journey, Smoke & Tea create a symphony of seemingly endless layers of sustained chords and angelic voices that are stretched to such an extreme that they seem to extend into the infinite void of our galaxy and beyond. Users of psilocybin often report awe-inspiring episodes of feeling oneness with the Universe. “Kauai” is the soundtrack for that experience. Farley sings cathartically “You’re not alone!” throughout the piece, reminding us of the interconnectedness of everything.

Oceans on Mars is a daring step forward for the duo that transforms the quiet musings of their earlier work into a world unto itself. Smoke & Tea challenge the concept of the ambient genre as simply background music, showing its potential as a riveting force.

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released June 18, 2021

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Not Yet Remembered Records Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

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