BTM0005 - Smoke & Tea - High Tea
After a couple years of honing their live act and building a reputation for immersive live sets resembling lush alien soundscapes, Smoke & Tea (Bernard Farley and Patrick Blinkhorn) have returned to Earth with "High Tea", a svelte collection of contemplative atmospherics that sees the pair exploring more rhythmic and emotional elements.
Artist: Smoke & Tea
Release: High Tea
Date: April 15, 2022
Tracks: 6
Length: 27:09
Tracklisting
01 High Tea 3:54
02 Sencha 5:56
03 Losing Time 4:47
04 Deep Dark Night 6:39
05 Deep Dark Night (Interlude) 1:34
06 Walk in the Park 4:19
The title track serves as a moody opener and blueprint for the sound of the record. Bernard's ghostly, wordless vocals ebb and flow as Patrick grounds the listener with bold electronic bass lines and watery synth textures. Meanwhile, Bernard's drum machine slowly evolves, subtly punctuating Patrick's electronic textures in all the right places.
The record oscillates between contemplation and bliss. From the perky "Sencha" into the barren desert of "Losing Time" and soft bellowing whispers of "Deep Dark Night"and then back again into greener pastures with the warm sunset of "Walk in the Park", perhaps one of Smoke & Tea's most cheerful tunes.
Smoke & Tea
Smoke & Tea started as a conversation. Bernard (Outputmessage) asked Patrick (Blinkhorn) what his favorite album of 2017 was. Patrick said that he resonated most with Brian Eno’s Reflection, which happened to be one of Bernard’s favorite albums of the year as well.
This mutual admiration for Brian Eno led the duo to start recording music on Sunday afternoons over tea in Bernard’s attic. Bernard and Patrick completed their appropriately named Sunday Afternoon album, which was mastered by Christopher Willits and released digitally in 2020. Their second album, Oceans on Mars, was released on Not Yet Remembered Records on June 18, 2021. In November 2021, Smoke & Tea released In Real Life, Vol. 1, the first installment in a series of live performance albums. Smoke & Tea's live performance setup consists of Patrick looping sounds from Moog synthesizers alongside Bernard, who sings above a variety of Roland instruments.