From Prayer to the Battlefield

From Prayer to the Battlefield is the 2021 debut by Sotomonte, the project led by Bilbao bassist and singer Jokin Salaverria, a veteran of the Biscay live circuit who also spent several years playing in California. The title sums up the album: it moves between the reflective and the combative. The sound sits where late-60s West Coast rock meets British folk and psychedelia, with nods to the Canterbury scene and a mid-tempo hard rock edge. Three-part vocal harmonies in the Crosby, Stills & Nash tradition run through the whole record. The album goes from acoustic openings that build into full-blown rock workouts, to Jethro Tull-flavoured riffing, soul-tinged ballads and organ-led psychedelia, and closes with a long, rising crescendo. Produced by Iñigo Bregel (Los Estanques), who also plays many of the instruments, with Brian Young (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Fountains of Wayne) on drums and a handful of guest guitarists.