Sleepy Sun - Embrace
You know that feeling - you hear something so good you can't help yourself from closing your eyes, opening your gobblebox in disbelief, smiling and letting out a sigh...followed by a quick explanation to your work colleagues that you’re not actually in the middle of orgasmic exultation - "Look my hands are on the desk!"
Anyway, that is exactly what happened to me on first listen to 'Embrace', the debut album from San Fran’s Sleepy Sun. I know it's very early to start thinking in these terms but could this be in the running for the end of year polls 2009? I for one think it could.
It's an album that just stinks of West Coast America. From its drawling vocals, stoned haze and fuzzed wah ('White Dove', 'Redblack' and 'Sleepy Son') all the way through to its peace sign brandishing doped out campfire songs ('Golden Artifact', 'Lord', 'Duet With The Northern Sky').
The opener 'New Age' sets the standard high - distorted bass, tribal thumping drums, vocals sung with eyes glazed and half open, fuzz guitars weaving in and out of each other. Immediately comparisons will be made with Black Mountain and for good reason.
'Lord' has a lazy swagger to it and recalls Vetiver at their finest. The drumming at the end giving it a nonchalant feel that leaves you yearning for more. 'White Dove' tears a hole in the universe over and over again before breaking down to a gently strummed guitar accompanied by wordless melody and tambourine. It's simply beautiful.
'Sleepy Son' has psych, drone, atmospheric, guitar textures screeching subtly in the background until the arse is torn out of it and the guitars and bass lock in on a fuzzed up groove underneath the drawled, echo smothered, half whispered half sung, vocals. It builds and builds until it peaks like Dave Brubeck's Take 5 played by a satanic cult - complete with chanting.
'Snow Goddess' has a bass so warm it's like the deepest, softest pillow engulfing your head, until the atmosphere is shredded by larynx tearing vocals and we're again introduced to a psychedelic maelstrom of noise. However it's not just about the psychedelic sounds and textures that make this album so good, it's also in the strength of the song writing. Just see 'Golden Artifact' which is one of lighter and best moments on the album. And this is the great talent of Sleepy Sun - they can lullaby you, send you into a hypnotic glaze and suddenly snatch you back and have you dancing and hollering like a crazed cult follower.
There is nothing on this album that hasn't been done before, but when the quality is so high who really cares? Rarely does an album contain so many songs that click instantly but also don't tire and it's hard to find a duff track on there, the only exception being perhaps 'Duet With The Northern Sky', however is this more to do with placement rather than quality? Maybe, but then again it's a brave move to steer away from the obvious grand finale?
This is dirty, beautiful, heart warming and scary all at once. Miss this album at your peril. They'll be over in May to play ATP let’s hope they add a few dates and allow more of us the chance to see their impassioned psychedelic drone show.
Top Tracks: 'New Age', ‘Snow Goddess’.