SMOKEY EMERY “Nights Like This Are Why I Have No Heart” C72 (KMAN 92.5)


Daniel Hipólito records as Smokey Emery, and Nights Like This Are Why I Have No Heart is his latest tape loop extravaganza that will see you wandering into the pool on the cover in the middle of the night and probably drowning in a hypnotic state. But that’s morbid, and we don’t want to be morbid! Let’s pull back and latch on to that dreamlike effect he’s got going for him, that deep, ambient repetition that echoes through your mind until it resembles something completely different from what it started as. The gently shifting tones compel with soft suggestion. The midnight wanderer within me awakens. I’m gonna fall into that friggin’ pool.

With someone/-thing else hollowing out your conscious mind and rippling through your motor functions, it’s not hard to understand why Nights Like This Are Why I Have No Heart hits the spot that it does. It’s a swirling nocturnal sedative, disorienting in its constant and seemingly never-ending application. It works perfectly, conjuring such a surreal atmosphere that it’s almost impossible to believe that you’re still somewhat coherent. I mean, you can’t talk, you can’t hear anything other than Smokey Emery, and you can’t resist the pull of the hypnosis, but still! You’re at least aware of everything that’s going on. Powerless, but aware. Sometimes you just have to let go and let it happen. Falling into pools and whatnot.



--Ryan