Smote & Yaswadah @ The White Hotel, Salford, 24th January 2025

As I head to The White Hotel in Salford, an old garage in a derelict part of the city, hidden away from the bright lights of Manchester’s hedonistic nightlife scene, I get that buzz of excitement when I arrive, as due to The Beauty Witch, I’m seeing bands that I really don’t know much about, in a venue that is made for experimental noise.

Tonight’s treat was Smote, the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Daniel Foggin, as he brings his assembled crew of musicians to mesmerise and astonish the assembled crowd in the smoke-filled garage. I was persuaded to come by The Shaman himself, as their latest release, A Grand Stream was his favourite album of 2024 on the top twenty he submitted to The Obelisk, and by the end, I was so glad I made the journey.

But before them, we have Yaswadah, who are emerging from Manchester’s underground with some mad crazy sounds of their own. Hard to pigeonhole as they are both raucous and relaxing in equal measures, with ambient jazz notes that float around the garage, as they are bathed in soft blue lights. They explode into The Flag Is Raised, and it has a strange ‘70s vibe, so much so that at one stage, I felt so relaxed, it was like strolling down Ipanema Beach in Brazil. The saxophone is extraordinary, and when they continue with another jazz number, it sounds very beatnik as if it belongs in the 1950s.

They play a new sort of jam, which is a bit funkier, and again the saxophone dominates the sound, before playing Manson, and with dim red lights, and a quick drum intro, I feel like I’m in some sort of space age dream. There are lots of tempo changes and odd synth sounds, yet somehow it just works. I leant across at one stage to The Shaman and said ‘I really like this’ as they begin playing Kneel with its nicely controlled jazz and synth sounds before it all goes a bit bonkers.

The post-punk noise crew cracks on with Fishin, which has a delightful slow ambient feel, very relaxing and smooth, yet when the vocals begin, the tempo changes, and it goes up and down like that across the song. I think at one stage I heard the words, ‘moving to Kazakhstan’, before they end with Ganze, a somewhat crazy song, where the vocalist disappears into the crowd, only to emerge at the back of the room next to us standing up shouting. It ambles along, possibly a bit too much, before they finish a quite enthralling set.

With so much stage fog, it was a near impossible for The Shaman to get any decent photos, but as Smote began their captivating set with Sitting Stone Pt. 1 he tried his best to capture what can only be described as a spellbinding seventy odd minutes of music. Submerged in a haunting red light, they begin their thunderous assault on our senses. The build-up and tension this opener creates is incredible and with the haunting vocal and hypnotic drum sound, it leaves me a bit open mouthed if I’m honest.

We are then treated to Drommon (Part 1) which has that slow and emotional beginning, almost mystical in parts, but when the flashing lights begin, it signals more intensity and a faster tempo to their crushing sonics. It almost sounds as if the quartet have just turned on a drum machine and put it on a continuous loop, such is the accuracy of their playing, so full credit to Rob Law on drums and Callum Church on guitar for their inspired performances. I’d like to say this about bassist Sally Mason as well, but because of the fog, I couldn’t see her, I was however assured she was on stage as she makes an accomplished contribution holding down the low end.

With frontman Daniel moving around the stage barefoot, Lof and The Opinion Of The Lamb Pt. 1 are played and it is like watching a genius at work. Whether it’s playing the flute or twiddling some knobs, he’s an interesting person to watch perform, albeit through the dense haze. The way they build up the tempos and switch them around at will or play like metronomes ticking along with rigour and diligence is bewitching.

Sitting Stone Pt. 2 entices us once again, a cacophony of individual noises that just makes perfect sense when it’s fused together in a live surrounding to create a spectacle that nobody who witnessed it will surely forget. They craft songs that encourage your body to move that you’re powerless to stop it and by the time they begin their final song Banhus, which felt more sinister than what came before with its quirky, darker vocals colluding with an evil melody, it felt like a frenzied attack on my senses.

I was stunned by how quickly the time had flown by as I was totally engrossed by what I was watching and hearing from the stage, and as I stepped out into the cold Salford air, I was left wanting more as Smote bring a different kind of heaviness to the table and more people need to appreciate what they do.

Smote

Yaswadah

Scribed by: Matthew Williams
Photos by: Lee Edwards