Smoke City

Smoke City are an English band, which blends acid jazz and trip hop, borrowing from Brazilian styles such as samba or bossa nova. They are best known for their single "Underwater Love", which was a major hit in 1996, after being used in a Levi's jeans TV ad "Mermaids" (directed by Michel Gondry). The original music video for the single is notable for predating The Matrix in its use of bullet time motion. In 1997 the band released their first album "Flying Away", which included several hits like "Underwater Love", "Mr. Gorgeous (and Miss Curvaceous)" and "Águas de Março (Joga Bossa Mix)". Whilst "Flying Away" was hard to classify because it had everything from light trip-hop to gentle guitar ballads, Smoke City's next album, "Heroes of Nature" (released in 2001), was considered too odd even by fans, combining even more styles and incorporating dance beats in some of the tracks.

An extended version of "Heroes of Nature" had three more tracks than the original, one of them being a cover of John Lennon's famous song "Imagine".

Underwater Love is also a track on the soundtrack/album "Thicker Than Water." Thicker Than Water is a surf video.

The three musicians no longer play together as Smoke City.

Members

* Nina Miranda (vocals, fx)
* Mark Brown (programming, turntables, keyboards, percussion, vocals, fx)
* Chris Franck (guitar, keyboards, percussion, bass, vocals)

Discography

* "Flying Away" (1997)
* "Heroes of Nature" (2001)

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/MadisonAvenue/8877/smokeeng.html Smoke City Unofficial Fan Website]
* [http://lorseau.hinah.com/gallery.php?c=pzic&s=session&g=smoke Concert photos] by Laurent Orseau (Black Session)