‘Clyppan’ takes its name from the Old English verb meaning “to embrace” or “to clasp,” a word that also recalls an ancient ritual of communal gathering and song. It is a fitting title for Smote’s latest release, a raw and unflinching document of the band’s live power, captured in London’s Bear Bites Horse studio. Following the momentum of their acclaimed 2024 album A Grand Stream, Smote honed their live performances into something more than music – an overwhelming, transcendental force that audiences at festivals such as Supernormal, Supersonic, and Roadburn experienced as both ecstatic and near-religious.
With Rocket Recordings recognizing the urgency of preserving this energy, the band entered the studio on January 22, 2025, with producer Wayne Adams to record a set that burns with elemental intensity. The result is Clyppan – four sprawling, drone-driven invocations that distill the essence of Smote’s sound into pure ritual. These tracks summon something both timeless and immediate, as though channeling spirits through repetition and vibration. To listen is to be drawn into a circle, to clasp hands with others, and to surrender to music as invocation – a powerful embrace of the primal and the unknown.
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