Listen: Soundwalk Collective And Jesse Paris Smith - Killer Road (Featuring Patti Smith)

The godmother of punk Patti Smith has leant her voice to a project honouring 60s icon and Velvet Underground collaborator, Nico. Spearheaded by Soundwalk Collective, the forthcoming Killer Road album has been described as a sonic exploration of the tragic death of Nico, who suffered a heart attack while riding her bike on the island of Ibiza in the summer of 1988.

Smith voice graces the album's ambient title-track, which is one of the final poems penned by Nico before her untimely death at age 49. To build up a magnetic soundscape the collective utilised a travel log of field recordings and samples of Nico's signature instrument, the harmonium. As explained by the collective in a statement the song is "a hypnotic meditation on the idea of perpetual motion and the cycle of life and death". 

The record will be released on 2nd September via Bella Union and Sacred Bones Records, in the meantime soak up the eponymous offering below...