Photo by Jake Hanson
Some bands write songs. Smokey Brights write scenes—little films scored in real time, with characters you can almost swear you’ve met. Their upcoming album Dashboard Heat (out September 26 via Seattle non-profit label Share It Music) is their most vivid collection yet: part love letter, part elegy, part reminder that even the things we lose have a way of finding us again. In true Share It Music fashion, a portion of the album’s proceeds will go to The Vera Project, the all-ages Seattle arts space helping young people turn music into a lifelong anchor.
Their latest single, “Peace Sign Pentagram,” plays like a chapter from a half-forgotten diary. Sung as a duet between Kim West and Ryan Devlin, it tells the story of a young couple split apart but tethered by shared summers, lake swims, stick-and-poke tattoos, chain wallets, and the impossible dream of starting a band. The verses ache with memory, but the chorus bursts into the possibility of a do-over: “But maybe we still can!” It’s a moment of hope breaking through the haze, rendered in the kind of harmony only two people with deep history can pull off.
It follows the rollicking lead single “All In Who You Know,” whose music video—directed by frequent collaborator Travis Trautt—finds the band, fresh off a gig at the Moscow Ren Faire, on a quest for a mythical object of dazzling power. It’s tongue-in-cheek and completely sincere at the same time, much like the band itself: playful storytellers who still leave enough room for real emotion to bleed through.
Smokey Brights aren’t just releasing an album—they’re taking Dashboard Heat on the road, with a fall tour that hits both coasts, the Southwest, and the Northwest, including a hometown release show at The Crocodile on December 11. Their live sets have always been equal parts celebration and catharsis, and if these new songs are any indication, this tour will be no exception.
In a year where nostalgia can feel like both a comfort and a trap, Dashboard Heat proves it’s possible to look back without getting stuck there. Smokey Brights remind us that memory isn’t just about what happened—it’s about what still could.
Dashboard Heat is as much an act of resistance as it is a record—what was the moment or mood that lit the fuse for this particular album?
Dashboard Heat is an act of resistance! Just as any joyful act of creation is resistance right now. The album is full of energy, love, joy, silliness, and heat in a moment when we’re being told that all is lost, to just lay down. We try to be honest with our listeners about how we feel, and the moment we made this record we were feeling the need to put up a middle finger to a few things. Our mood remains hopeful, but the moment requires more than hope, it requires resistance.
“All In Who You Know” plays like a glitter-bombed call for mutual aid. What made you want to explore that tension between pop sheen and social rebellion?
The most dangerous social commentary goes down like sugar. To make it palatable is to make it powerful. We set this story of resistance at a place where we’re all feeling the pinch, the grocery store. We love the idea of someone singing along and then realizing, “holy shit, is this a song about shoplifting?”
From the grocery store checkout line to the moon: how does everyday grit influence the more cosmic elements of your songwriting?
Looking up is our way of ballasting the heavy realities of our day to day. Whether we’re navigating a strange smell on light rail, mourning, or getting lost in the Milky Way, it all affects us. It’s all connected, as above so below.
We heard Ryan painted Andy D. Park’s studio in exchange for production—how much of this album was built on that kind of bartered trust and creative reciprocity?
Andy is a world class producer, who also needed his house and studio painted. Ryan’s a Tacoma kid who grew up painting houses, it was match made in heaven! Every record we’ve ever made we’ve called in every favor we could to make it. From sharing gear to trading labor, musicians, especially North West musicians, have to get scrappy to get things done. Maybe we’re getting better at making music, but we’re definitely getting better at asking for favors.
The Vera Project feels like the perfect partner for this album. How did your connection with that space shape your vision for Dashboard Heat?
Vera is part of our collective origin story, both Kim and Ryan grew up going to shows there. As an adult Kim served on the board of Vera for years, and was rounding out her final term as we made Dashboard Heat. Nothing gives us more hope than seeing young people create new art.
The “All In Who You Know” video is a full-on Ren Faire fever dream—how did that mythical quest mirror the themes of the song?
A successful quest is never a solo mission. It’s always the unlikely band of friends that persevere. That’s the idea behind the song, we need each other. When we got booked to play an actual Ren Faire the idea for this bonkers LOTR style video started percolating.
With each release, your sonic palette expands—Levitator flirted with space rock, and now Dashboard Heat launches past it. What’s the next frontier for Smokey Brights?
We’ve gone so far into outer space sonically that I think we’re craving a little terra firma. We in fact did a live recording of Dashboard Heat in a more Unplugged / Tiny Desk style that we’re starting to release on YouTube. We might even release it as a live record: Dashboard Chill?
Can you tell us more about the lyrical comic book accompanying the record? What was it like watching Bruno Cesar interpret your music through a surrealist lens?
We asked Bruno Cæsar to create artwork for the album and he came back with this idea of Kim and Ryan on an emotional space adventure, fueling up our van on the moon. The cover image he created lovingly features an Easter egg from each track. He dove so deeply into the lyrics and feeling of Dashboard Heat that we wanted to see where else he’d go. The lyric comic book that will accompany the vinyl brings in our bandmates Nick and Luke, as well as our Siamese cats Tina and Tiny, and goes even further into the cosmos. It’s truly a trip!
You’ve got tracks in Pacific Drive, a podcast soundtrack under your belt, and now this record. How has scoring for non-traditional platforms impacted how you think about songwriting?
We’re really obsessed with tapping into the emotions of sounds. We’ve gotten lots of space to explore that in doing soundtracks lately, as well as with our instrumental band, mega cat. In Dashboard Heat we really wanted to create this big spacious depth of field. We did a lot of sub octave bass, double octave up guitars, and wiggly keys all in between. I think without the creative challenges of making instrumental music to go with narratives, we might not have allowed our sonic imaginations to range so far.
There’s something deeply hopeful in your music, even when it stares into the dark. In a time where collapse feels ambient, what keeps you making music that reaches for the stars?
A friend recently told us that whether this is the apocalypse or the dawn of a brave new era, your job remains the same: to live your life and to do the things only you can do. Making our music is the thing we feel compelled to do each day, and it is absolutely a hopeful act. Seeing others live with thier purpose and continue to create good in the face of abounding cynicism keeps our fire lit. It’s all in who you know, and we know some truly inspiring humans.
