Exclusive album premiere of ‘Tales’ by psychedelic blues rock quartet Sound Of Smoke, out February 18, 2022 via Tonzonen Records.

A magic mix of heavy and soft, occult and misty, paired with an intense live show, will take you on a trip deep into the land of spirit, wilderness and joy. Since 2016 Sound Of Smoke from Freiburg, Germany, have been playing their own version of “stoner blues”. With her deep and warm soul-voice Isabelle Bapté forms the distinctive and individual sound of the band.

The band consists of Isabelle Bapté (vocals, keys), Jens Stöver (guitar), Florian Kiefer (bass), Johannes Braunstein (drums).

<a href="https://soundofsmoke.bandcamp.com/album/tales">TALES by Sound of Smoke</a>

Are you excited to release ‘Tales’?

Florian Kiefer: We are more than happy to finally expose this record to the public. It was a long process, the actual recording was already in 2019 and so now we are very excited to release this album after such a long process of mixing, mastering and manufacturing.

How long did you work on the album?

As mentioned the actual recording sessions took place at the end of 2019. The studio work including the recording of the basic tracks and all the overdubs, we finished within three weeks. Then the pandemic hit us pretty hard, we had to cancel almost all of our shows for 2020 and so we focused on the post production of the record. We started all the mixing and mastering work in 2020. And when we finally found our label Tonzonen Records in 2021 we had to wait until now for the physical copies. So it was a pretty long process but now we are very happy with the outcome and excited for the release.

“The album consists of different tales”

It seems there’s a certain concept behind your songs… would you like to share how you usually approach music making and what are some of the main inspirations when it comes to lyrics?

Our songs are mostly resulting from jams. We like to improvise and as soon as there is a certain energy coming up, we try to build a song from those riffs. Then Isabelle, our singer, adds her lyrics on top of that. We like to experiment with different genres like blues, boogie, soul and psychedelic rock. There is not a common concept for this album; it consists of different tales, that’s also the reason for the name. So we try to use a lot of different moods and genres to keep the album exciting from beginning to end and create some kind of suspense.

Do you have any plans for gigs?

We will have a release show on the 17th of February in Freiburg and on the 19th of February we will play a concert in a record store in Bern. Due to the pandemic it is very hard to plan in the long term but at the moment we are booking a Euro tour for May 2022 and a bigger tour in October 2022. Get in touch if you want to see us play in your city.

It’s great that your music will be available on vinyl.

Yes, we are also thrilled to hear our music on vinyl. It just has a very different and warm sound. But it will also be available on CD, Streaming Platforms or as a Download.

“We try not to create boundaries in our heads”

How would you describe your sound?

That’s a hard one. We never tried to imitate any other bands, we always focused on our way of jamming and making music together. Of course we were influenced by other bands. Mainly the sixties and early seventies music inspired us very much. So the best way to describe our sound is the term psychedelic soul rock. We pair soft with heavy parts and the voice of Isabelle gives the band something unique, some of those sixties soul vibes. But as mentioned we don’t want to be put in a specific genre, we like to experiment with different styles of music and we try not to create boundaries in our heads.

Are any of you involved in any other bands or do you have any active side-projects going on at this point?

Flo, the bass player, has a side project with a doom metal band called Brocken, they released a full album 2020 and a EP in 2022. All the others of the band have jam projects with different people from the local scene, so maybe there will be more new music projects in the future…

Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

Electric Octopus – ‘This Is Our Culture’

We had the great honor to support them on a few shows and on an Ireland tour in 2019. They are incredibly talented musicians, great people and a big inspiration for us. Their jams are insane and keep pushing us to new levels.

All them Witches – ‘Lightning At The Door’

A masterpiece from a great band. It’s a symbiosis from dark to psychedelic, from soft to heavy. A very unique style and a lot of different dynamics. A great record and a great inspiration.

King Buffalo – ‘Longing To Be The Mountain’

Awesome production. The mix of the album is great. Crystal clear drums, strong bass and a bone shattering guitar paired with great vocals. At the same time soft and light. Very talented band.