Smokey - Bleak Heritage
Self-Released
Released on August 16th, 2025
There was a period in 2024 where Smokey got a hold of me a couple of times in short succession with some variation of, “Hey, I have a single coming out soon. Not sure when, was thinking maybe tomorrow. Do you want to premiere it on Cups N Cakes?” If it were anyone else, I’d scoff at a request like this, but for Nickelas Johnson, I’d always make an exception. Besides, it was a chance to hear the latest track a day or two early, which was always worth it in and of itself.
I’m happy to say that those unpredictable singles have coalesced into Smokey’s long-awaited LP, Bleak Heritage, and they round out an excellent collection of songs that feel like a fitting return for the Edmonton artist. I once described Smokey as sounding like a “railroad worker on a mushroom trip,” and reductive though that may be, there’s something about the combination of his choice of subject matter—coyotes, religion, unemployment, death—that paints a decidedly Midwestern Gothic picture. And yet it’s tinged with an almost spiritual quality, something ethereal that lingers, prodding you to remind you that not everything is as simple as it seems.
He’s been honing that sound for a long time; his last release was Smokey & the Feelings’ self-titled 2016 record, and before that, a demo tape in 2010. And some will know that Bleak Heritage isn’t the only LP Nick has been involved with this year: January kicked off with the release show for the remaster of the debut Field + Stream record, which Nick originally released with the other three members of that band back in 2012.
All that to say that Bleak Heritage is the work of someone who’s been writing and recording songs for a long time, and it shows. The lead-up to the record itself has even been long: the first single dropped in January of 2023, and taken together with a glance at the credits on Bandcamp (at least three recording studios and seven engineers!), one can imagine that what we’ve seen is Smokey slowly chipping away at these songs over years. But despite the long timeline and different collaborators on this record, it remains united by a vision that is characteristically Smokey’s.
“Springtime” was first released in May 2024 and continues to be a highlight (it’s often the song I first show to people when I recommend this record). It sounds fucking great—something that Chris Dadge’s productions on this record all have in common—from the ethereal cello part to the ultra-simple holding-down-the-fort drumming. And it puts Smokey front and centre, with one of my favourite lyrics of his: an instant classic first verse, all Gene Autry sunny optimism and smiles, until he realizes that the very season that is defined by change and rebirth just shines light on all of the ways we stay the same. It’s a lovely turn, and it’s characteristic of the way that Smokey writes—always slightly askew, but despite the Dutch angle, the light gothic psychedelia of it all, there’s something downright down-to-earth and insightful about where you get to at the end of the line.
Other highlights include “Jesus x3,” which, besides being a great song, also includes the phrase “holy moly Jesus.” I’ve never gotten to the end of listening to a record and thought, “Man, I wanna hear the one with the cowbell again,” but “Throat” is that good.
And then there’s “Ready to Die”… I went to the album release party in Edmonton for Bleak Heritage back in August. The band played out on the loading dock of a popular brewery in town, to a crowd consisting of everyone I’d ever seen at all the best shows I’ve ever been to in Edmonton, all gathered in a dusty parking lot in a reclaimed industrial area, sipping beers as the summer sun went down. Smokey finished the set with “Ready to Die,” just that single lyric, drilled into your head in the most pleasant and tuneful way possible for nearly two minutes, before the fuzzed-out guitar and bass came crashing in with the drum kit. And then the band stopped—and Smokey started singing along to a karaoke track of the Frank Sinatra version of “My Way.” It was surreal, hilarious, and incredibly moving in a bizarre way. It hit a peak, the audience applauded, a pause, and then, once again: “I’m ready to die! I’m ready to die! I’m ready to die! I’m ready to die!”
Goddamnit if Smokey didn’t do it his way.
