Sean Smith

Sean Smith is an American instrumental musician and experimental composer of San Francsico, California, United States. He was born in Northern California and started releasing albums in 2003 after his move to the San Francsico Bay Area. While not abondoning his solo guitar roots entirely, Smith now performs with his power trio and is more focused on the electric guitar. His latest album, Huge Fluid Freedom was released on August 30th 2011 and represents his new and adept approach to composing for the electric guitar and ensemble. The album was produced by Tim Green of the Fucking Champs/Nation of Ulysses and released by Strange Attractors Audio House. The album represents a much wider scope of collaboration from his previous works. The result is a moving sonic experience ranging from straight up solo acoustic exploration to breathtaking cinematic soundscapes. The John Fahey influence is still there, but now mixed with dark folk, krautrock and doom metal. No corner of "epic" is left untouched. Live and in the studio, Sean Smith always pushes the boundaries of what we have come to be familiar with the guitar. His works continue to grow in expression and ability and his performances are absolutely jawdropping. He blends exquisite technical skill with keen creativity, metal with americana. His first two LP's, Sean Smith and Sacred Crag Dancer, Corpse Whisperer were solo acoustic guitar a la John Fahey and american primitive and were released Isota Records in 2005 and 2006. These releases caught the attention of New York’s Tompkins Square Records whose notice resulted in the critically acclaimed Berkeley Guitar (2006) and Beyond Berkeley Guitar (2010) compilations, which were both curated and produced by Smith himself. Celebrated as a new arbiter of american primitive guitar, his works were highlighted on compilations released by Takoma Records, and Tompkins Square and recognized by Acoustic Guitar Magazine and the New York Times for his contributions. In 2006 he released the collaborative album, Eternal and began exploring wider sonic reaches. Eternal was initially released in a very limited vinyl edition by Gnome Life Records and was subsequently reissued on CD by Portland's Strange Attractors Audio House. With this album he gained endless comaprisons to Sandy Bull and Dirty Three. While predominantly an acoustic ensemble recording, Eternal displays Smith's first foray in utilizing electric guitar with a burst of noise rock at the album's centerpiece. In support of this and the aforementioned releases, Smith toured the United States and Europe extensively, with a strong focus on California. Furthering his exploration of the electric guitar, Smith joined the band Citay in 2008, a group known widely for it’s virtuosic soaring lead guitar embellishments. For three years, Smith lent his lead guitar chops to the band in recording and relentless touring in North America. In 2010 Smith released an album of holiday tunes, entitled Christmas, on Tompkins Square Records.