SLEEPMAKESWAVES – …AND SO WE DESTROYED EVERYTHING

The debut album from Sydney’s sleepmakeswaves has everything you could want from a post-rock album. For the uninitiated, the semi-legitimate term ‘post-rock’ refers to a focus on sonic texture and instrumental ideas rather than traditional rock notions such as singing or lyricism. As such, …and so we destroyed everything is a virtual goldmine of huge riffs, deft drumming and stunning sound effects. Opener To You They Are Birds, To Me They Are Voices In The Forest is a progressive wonder stuffed full of melodic ideas, while A Gaze Blank and Pitiless As The Sun is rock’s answer to trance music, a monstrous 11-minute cathartic experience. (Hello) Cloud Mountain, with its shameless catchiness and bombast, recalls U2 as much as more modern acts such as Mogwai or Sigur Rós. Meanwhile, We Like You When You’re Awkward doesn’t sound like it comes from a rock band at all – luscious synths and impressive electronics seem to dominate. They may have no singer, but sleepmakeswaves have crafted an album that doesn’t get boring for a second, and in doing so have shown that the sounds you make can be just as powerful as the message behind them.

**** ½