Sleepmakeswaves
Tangled Thoughts of Leaving
Self-Released
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Score: 6.5/10

For whatever reason – the economic crisis, a shortage of completed tracks or an increased emphasis on collaboration – the split EP has been gaining ground in recent months. Some may even posit that the split EP is the new compilation album. It’s a great way for artists to keep their names in conversation, and can be an effective means of testing new sounds without committing them to an album.

Sleepmakeswaves has been a TSB favorite for quite some time. Their extremely promising demo was followed by 2008’s brief album, in today already walks tomorrow, which contained two key tracks, “i will write peace on your wings” and Track of the Year contender “one day you will teach me to let go of my fears.” This latter piece was a reworking of a song from their demo, and featured the bold substitution of violin for guitar. Which begs the obvious question: where has the violin gone? Sadly, the three tracks on the split EP contain nary a string. While they are all appealing, they lack the wow factor, the something extra needed to put them over the edge.

“keep your splendid silent sun” comes closest, with a simple piano motif traded to guitar and a late-track shift from live drums to electronic. But this is simply not enough – by now we have come to expect more from this group. The title of the recent TSB-sponsored “Post-Rock Is Dead” event held in the band’s native Australia may have been tongue-in-cheek, but the sentiment is popular in the mainstream media, and soon being above average may no longer be enough to survive in the post-rock world. Let’s hope the strings come back for the next album.

Tangled Thoughts of Leaving catches us off guard in a different fashion. Their 2008 debut EP, Tiny Fragments, was heavy on jazz riffing and contained competent yet unnecessary “Where the Wild Things Are” vocals. So it is somewhat of a surprise to find the band so focused on its follow-up, brave enough to switch gears and to stride with confidence (some might say balls) into the crowded post-rock field. How else might one explain the presence of the 15-minute behemoth, “the world is a deaf machine?” To quote Juno, sans sarcasm, “Woah, dream big.”

The creaks, guitar overtones and piano flourishes of the opening minutes set the pace: we know that we’re going to be in for the long haul, but that a restrained prelude will be necessary to ease us in. As the track progresses, the drums become more insistent, the interplay between guitar and piano more obvious, the central riffs more dominant. A light drop at the 5-minute mark loses none of the energy. Soon afterward, the drums begin a call-and-response with the guitars, while synthesizer squelches adorn the sonic fringes. “deaf machine” is not an exercise in loud-quiet-loud, but a study in nuance; the “climax” is one of complexity, rather than volume. The track is one of the year’s best to date; this upstart group has just jumped the queue.

With this EP, Tangled Thoughts of Leaving has announced itself as a major player, while Sleepmakeswaves will have to step up their game in order to keep pace.

Richard Allen

Written By: host
Date Posted: 5/4/2009
Number of Views: 931