In a musical landscape often chasing the ephemeral, Smote’s sound is unapologetically terrestrial. For principal architect Daniel Foggin, music serves as a direct channel for his daily life as a landscape gardener—a world of soil, stone, and seasons. His latest offering, Songs From The Free House, released today(order here), is the most profound expression of this connection yet, an album that feels as if it were excavated from the Northumberland ground itself. Daniel talks us through the album below.
Building on the megalithic drone of previous work, this fifth release for Rocket Recordings sees Smote’s sonic palette significantly expanded. While the mantric, hypnotic heaviness reminiscent of Earth or Om remains the foundation, new textures are woven throughout. Foggin cites the influence of heavy electronic artists like Puce Mary, seeking a crushing weight that transcends traditional guitar-centric sounds. This is blended with a deep reverence for folk traditions and local lore, creating a sound that feels both ancient and shockingly contemporary.
This is most evident on the standout track, ‘The Linton Wyrm’. Inspired by a local border legend of a knight slaying a dragon, the song moves from a devotional chant to a potent, earth-shaking conclusion. It’s a narrative drawn directly from the landscape Foggin works on daily, given life through rumbling frequencies and bolstered by guest appearances from Sally Mason and Lankum’s Ian Lynch on Uillean pipes.
Recorded with Sam Grant (Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs), the album trades lo-fi immediacy for a widescreen, immersive clarity without sacrificing its raw power. Songs From The Free House is a monumental work, a transcendental journey where primal repetition and folk memory converge into something vital and eternal. It is the sound of the earth itself, speaking through cranked amplification.
Track-by-Track: Songs from the Free House
The Cottar
A cottar is another term for farmer, or rural worker. An often romanticised life that comes hand in hand with debilitating weather conditions and physical brutality. For myself, this is the most prominent theme throughout the album. Comfort in discomfort, joy from hard work.
The Linton Wyrm
All hail The Linton Wyrm! A great beast that once roamed the hills of the Scottish Borders, sadly to be slain by the Knight John De Somerville. A story very dear to myself, after spending many days working in the hills that The Wyrm occupied. Endless gratitude to Sally Mason, who is normally found performing bass in the live band. I asked Sally for some additional vocals and I received 10 tracks of various harmonies, a one woman choir in Sally’s words.
Snodgerss
Snodgerss, or Smooth-grass. A description of a healthy field or an observation of vast numbers of individual strands interacting as one entity in the wind. From a more literal perspective in this instance—the dance between distorted synthesisers, blown out guitars, and broken cymbals.
Chamber
Chamber follows a weary traveller, on their way home. Sally Mason’s one woman choir can be heard at its most powerful, a true bath in the relationship between amplifier worship vs human voice.
Wynne
Translating roughly to happiness. I once asked a man I was working with what he thought about when we were digging for hours on end. He replied “Nothing, just the digging.” How beautiful it is to have an empty head, to be totally transfixed on one repetitive motion, true peace. I was lucky enough to have Ian Lynch play some Uilleann Pipes on this track, the harmonies of the of the Pipes cutting through the sludge of the amplifiers transformed the album ender into a rather emotional affair.
Order Songs from the Free House
Ltd Black Vinyl + A2 Poster via Rocket Recordings | Digital via Bandcamp
Live dates:
17 Oct / Falmouth / KCM Church
18 Oct / Bristol / Down Stokes Festival
19 Oct / Preston / The Ferret
20 Oct / Glasgow / Hug and Pint
23 Oct / London / The Lexington
24 Oct / Derby / Dubrek Studios
26 Oct / Newcastle / The Lubber Fiend
13 Dec / Todmorden / The Golden Lion
Tickets: https://bit.ly/m/smote