Remember the first time you heard The National’s Boxer? I do. There’s something of the same feeling of a memorable event here. That immediate sense of ambitious self-assurance captured on record: a brooding restrained presence that demands that you pay attention and sets them apart from the anthemic indie guitar rock pack. So just who are they? Wintersleep have been a unit since 2002, but in the last couple of years have regrouped and re-launched themselves – last year winning Canada’s Juno Award for New (i.e. just noticed) Group of the Year with this their third album. Some members flit in and out of other bands too, most notable Holy Fuck – who also hail from the bracing shores of Nova Scotia. Those guys may find less time available for those kind of side projects now.
Wintersleep combine powerful post-rock quiet/loud dynamics with melodic riffs and phrases that stick in the mind even if you’re not quite sure of their significance: “The belly of a whale“, “Whisperings of an infinite yes“. Just like R.E.M. back in the good old days, and the comparison stretches at times to the overall sound also. Lyrically there’s a lot of introspection going on amongst these nice young men – mentions of visits to analysts and mental illness in general, ponderings on mortality and loss of identity, even an evaluation of the pros and cons of laser eyesight correction. Their song writing has matured since the first pair of albums and it’s no coincidence that success has arrived now.
‘Weighty Ghost’ is the track that will initially catch most peoples’ attention. It sticks out in having a prettier acoustic sound – over melodium-like drone and flittering drummer boy snare – building to a rousing all-together-now group chorus. All in all it has a suitably WTF Donnie Darko vibe (and I don’t mean there’s any mention of smurfs). Pick of the bunch in terms of immediacy though is ‘Oblivion’ – as soon as the peeling opening guitar fires off you’ll be reaching for a pen to update your rock family tree collection: inking in a direct link to the lead guitarists uncle – who can only be The Edge from Boy days. The track has the relentless tumbling exuberance of ‘Out Of Control’.
In fact, this whole of Welcome to the Night Sky has the coherence of intent and partially suppressed passion of Boy. The sound is economically but perfectly built and feels greater than the sum of its fairly straightforward standard parts. Loel Campbell in the engine room especially provides a driving undercurrent of doughy pulsing drumming that carries everything else along as bubbling jangling froth on the crest of his powerful wave. Production credits go to Tony Doogan of Mogwai, Belle and Sebastian, and Super Furry Animals fame. In the quieter moments of, say, ‘Drunk On Aluminium’, Paul Murphy can plead like Snow Patrol’s Gary Peabody (but don’t hold that against him). More usually he’s soaring in an empathetic sweet nasal tone – involved in the song but somehow always slightly reined in: like he’s singing for himself rather than an audience.
A familiar post-rock feature also crops up – sections of a couple of tracks are instrumentals, but Wintersleep use them as elongated intros fused onto following tunes; often with a distinct change of pace. The grandiose closer ‘Miasmal Smoke & The Yellow Bellied Freaks’ has a Flaming Lips style lumbering first segment followed by a monumentally pounding second half that bursts into prog-like glory and threatens to piss on the specification of your prize sound system. Interestingly they have been known to do a down-home unplugged version too.
So I’ve mentioned some big hitters as references (let’s forget about the Snow Patrol reference – though I’ve no particular beef there: they just seem to be chasing the same diminishing returns). All those pointers should only be a good thing, and again I stress that Welcome to the Night Sky displays its own distinct identity. If there is a possibility of the heavy shoe gazing uniformity drifting towards formulaic, it’s not something to worry about yet. Maybe a couple more albums down the line that could be an issue, but right now the quality is just too high. Already a ‘best of year’ contender has appeared: sing-along-a-Mogwai.
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Great review Andrew – this has steadily worked its way onto near constant repeat on my iPod. A couple of clunkers, Archaeologists is a bit rubbish, but other than that very enjoyable.
Since receiving this a couple of months ago it has had many many listens and I’m still not tired of it. ’nuff said really :-)
Sorry I missed this review, good one. Back before I turned to the dark side, I used to BUY my whims at the cd shop (now I’m a fucking maniac with p2p stuff, urgh). I bought Wintersleep record cos I liked bleak cover art photo. Not the greatest of filtration devices but it sure worked that time! A post-punk Pearl Jam if memory serves. I’ll hunt this one down.