Video: Smoke Season, ‘Up On Me’

S.Lo on March 5th, 2019

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All heat, no filler, bluesy electro-soul pop duo Smoke Season, Gabby Bianco (née Wortman) and Jason Rosen, have extracted the ghost out of machine synths in their short-player EPs and shows since 2013. They’ve shaped a uniquely angsty voice in their recent singles, a sexy sneer out on the prowl, taking no prisoners and giving no apologies.

Their latest single “Up On Me” takes the heat down to a simmer with a reggae beat that grooves to a chill and steady dubstep. Produced by Andrew Furze, mixed by Todd Bergman and mastered by Gentry Studer, the song seizes a moment to reflect about staying in for the long haul, not giving up on the dance of love and holding onto passion, with Bianco singing, “Sneaking all my kisses till we don’t / Need them like we need the air that we breathe / Ridin’ down fixtures till we don’t / No lookin’ back… / So don’t give up on love… on me / Don’t give up on love… on me.”

The song and video, directed by Natalie Neal, is a love letter to their Northeast L.A. neighborhood. Featuring the duo and other notable locals as Christopher Vick (Draemings) and local skaters hanging out from dusk till dawn, they shared, “When making these lyrics, we sort of took the approach of trying to write a love song for our neighborhood itself — and speak to Echo Park as if it were our lover. We kind of saturated the music video with our friends from the community, too. Everyone who worked on the video was like a little family. Oh yeah, and we featured Tacos Delta in the video and ANYONE who knows anything about nearby Silver Lake knows that Tacos Delta is a legendary spot.”

Late-night tacos, half-pipes, riding on the hoods of broken cars with friends– we’re not giving up on that.

||| Watch: The video for “Up On Me”

||| Live: Smoke Season will be playing the Icenhauer Showcase (83 Rainey Street) March 14 and Toms Shoes Party (1407 South Congress) on March 16 at SXSW.

||| Also: Stream “Up On Me”