The self-titled mini-album by Australian instrumental rockers sleepmakeswaves contains older music from out-of-print EPs, rereleased in this format after their full-length album, “... And So We Destroyed Everything” (summer 2011). There are superficial similarities to their fellow countrymen, Pirate. Both bands play (mainly) instrumental, prog-influenced rock. However, sleepmakeswaves tend more toward psychedelic electronica and dreamy trance sounds instead of the hard grooves Pirate produce. On tracks like “We Sing the Body Electric” (a nod to Walt Whitman’s poem – or maybe the short story by Ray Bradbury or Weather Report’s album?), the band interrupts light and atmospheric airs with outbursts of industrial harshness, before the guitar takes off into the post-rock spheres of Mogwai and From Monument to Masses. This is clearly one of the album’s standout tracks. “sleepmakeswaves” may sometimes get lost in reverie, drifting off into otherworldliness, but overall it is a very elaborate album filled with exciting music.

by artistxite