1.Camera Obscura / Private 
Lifesmyth : "Music for the third ear" (US,2000)**°
2.Private/ Manatone Music Lifesmyth : "Epiphany Central" (US,1994)**°
3.Manatone Music Lifesmyth : "Muse Gathering" (UK,1999)**°
1."Music For The Third Ear" :
UK styled folkpsychpop, with harmonic but softly dreamy / stoned male voice, drums, electric (fuzz,slide,etc..) and acoustic guitars. Very nice if you like the genre of psychfolk pop. One song is with added cello. There's clearly potention in all, although it might not be clear imeadiatly, from the first songs on, what exactly it's expressing or heading to. I like especially the carefully worked out "What I came with /The Polish Question". At "Beyond the Star" Scott Smith's vocals and the mood in the song reminded me a bit a Robert Wyatt. Promissing.
This release made it recently (2003) as an official CD.
2."Epiphany Central" :
This release was recorded on a multitrack by Scott Smith, spring 1994, during a brief stay in the Cobbelstone Basement of a 200 or so year old farmhouse in upstate NY. We can hear mostly stoned songs, pressed by ghostly moving multilayered guitars, with sounds varying from a guitar driven basement rock sound to lower energy fallen asleep in the corner alternative music, sandwiched by differently coloured electric guitars and drummachine, or based upon spacy psych guitarchords that move to the outwards of the cellars, to the most opening structures of raga driven fingerpicking guitars. Tracks chosen for airplay : "Down Again", "The excursion".
3."Muse Gathering" :
With dual & trio layered recorded (sometimes a bit odd dreamy soft psych) "harmonic" vocals, and psych folk pop accompaniment, this is another release by Scott Smyth, with the help of 5 other musicians. The songs have the openness for some small instrumental improvisations, with well balanced (psych) guitars & drums mostly, with occasionally some moody organ & some keyboards too. All tracks fit nicely together (also because they are all made in a similar way). It has all necessary elements for a nicely coloured sound. A consistent release.
4."Aurora's Areolas" (Demo-version) (2004)**° (=G->VG)
Scott Smith worked well on this new release (2004) , with band, with a post-psychpop vibe, with multi-tracked vocal harmonies, making the music really easily appealing. This might be the most approved sound of the band, ready for a bigger public. At the same time the dreamy pop song orientation makes it for me again harder to describe or to lift out particular songs. Well done !
Contact : Scott Smith,7096 West Old Highway 64,Lexington, NC 27295
