Wintersleep
Welcome to the Night Sky
Labwork, 2007
*** out of 5
It may just be the innate crotchety old man in me, but I like CD covers that contain information regarding the band and/or the album contained within. Welcome to the Night Sky had me perusing the net for all manner of information regarding Wintersleep, since I really didn’t know much about them. The only words inside the package are, like, three lines of two point text in an alluring grey-on-grey scheme that makes it all but impossible for these tired ol’ eyes to peruse. Oh I know, this fact says nothing about the music within, but it says plenty about my expectations when I put the CD on.
Really, I expected a spiky abstruse type of music. For instance, a lot of the so-called math rock bands of a few years back, like Fridge, Jessamine, and Labradford, utilised this paucity of information to some kind of lame artistic effect. Perhaps my disdain is due to that fact that I found most of that genre boring and only slightly more listenable than a punch press in full operation. Have you ever noticed that some bands cleverly put the album information on the CD itself? This scheme works best for those with googly eyes who can read a disc while it’s spinning at 3,000 RPM. I’m not sure whether Wintersleep has done this… let me check… Nope! Kudos to you, boys.
But perhaps this is all part of Wintersleep’s plan, because Welcome to the Night Sky is pleasingly warm to listen to on a cold November day. Its ghostly guitars and long-corridor echoes reflect the leafless trees and rain-slicked streets, ready for the snow and, well, the sleep of winter. So chalk one up for the appropriate band name, then. It’s also nice to listen to while you’re looking for information on Wintersleep. Apparently they were formed as part of the Dependent Music collective in Halifax in the late ‘90s, and have toured with both The Tragically Hip and Pearl Jam. These facts don’t really speak to Wintersleep’s sound painting and heavy, almost Swervedriver-esque, guitar pop.
The music doesn’t veer to far off the Broken Social Scene epic electric pop path so popular amongst up-and-coming bands. Most of the music holds the usual indie touchstones such as My Bloody Valentine or Pavement, but for the most part it never imitates, only recalls. By the last track Miasmal Smoke and the Yellowbellied Freaks you’re so thoroughly enamoured with their tangent that you wouldn’t care whether you caught a Janet Jackson influence. And then the album ends, which is a shame, because Welcome to the Night Sky takes almost the whole album to achieve this intensity: once it’s sustained you wish it could go on for a bit longer.
Be it far from me to want to encourage indie squabbling, but really Broken Social Scene could sue Wintersleep for Oblivion, which sounds too much like an off-cut from You Forgot It in People for Jason Collett to sleep comfortably. However, for the most part, Welcome to the Night Sky is a warm and welcoming album that, even if it doesn’t contain the most original music in the world, really is a joy to listen to. It’s just that, well, next time boys, put some bloody words on the CD package would you? Thanks.
Review by Greg Hood-Morris
Agree? Disagree? Email Greg at criticizegreg@gmail.com
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