Saturday, July 23, 2011

sleepmakeswaves (album launch) @ East Brunswick Club, 22-07-2011

Alright, here's a late one, but a good one. One certainly can't accuse Australia of having a lack of high-quality post-rock bands around at the moment, and on this chilly winter's evening, four amazing acts did their thing at the East Brunswick Club. The headliners were well-respected Sydney four-piece sleepmakeswaves, launching their highly-anticipated debut album - something that their small but loyal and steadily increasing fanbase have been excited about for quite a long time now. They were supported by a great collection of likeminded acts from around the Melbourne scene, namely This Is Your Captain Speaking, These Hands Could Separate the Sky, and Lunaire.

So Lunaire kicked things off; I'm surprised to find that these guys are from Warrnambool, as it isn't exactly the kind of area you'd expect post-rock bands to come from. Then again, these guys proved to be a little more uptempo than the other bands on show tonight; they delved into My Bloody Valentine-esque shoegaze on some numbers, complete with the constant whammy bar strumming action that Kevin Shields was so known for. All in all, Lunaire's sound was a pretty enjoyable start to the evening, albeit slightly unfocused. They seem like a pretty young band who haven't really found "their" sound so to speak, but what was on show tonight was pretty promising. I do regret not recording them. Oh, and they were giving away their demo for free, which is always nice. Well worth checking out, and I think/hope we'll see a lot more of them in 2012.

sleepmakeswaves... wow, what can I say? I remember this whole night like it was yesterday. I remember being so excited to hear these tracks for the first time (though it was the album launch, the album itself was only available the day before, so yeah, I hadn't heard it yet). I remember being even more excited during the week when Tim Charles from Ne Obliviscaris announced that he would appear with the band during their set to reprise his amazing violin parts on their immortal song one day you will teach me to let go of my fears, which I, being a newish fan of the band, had never had the opportunity to witness before. But most significantly, I remember hearing some really sad news from two friends who rocked up just before sleepmakeswaves got onstage, and that cast a really emotional shadow over the whole evening. And then when they played one day..., fuck. Such an intense set from the Sydney post-rock gods; probably my favourite Aussie gig of the year. I really must apologise for my inebriated friends conversing during some of the quiet bits.

SETLIST:
our time is short but your watch is slow
a gaze blank and pitiless as the sun
(hello) cloud mountain
to you they are birds, to me they are voices in the forest
now we rise and we are everywhere
we sing the body electric
in limbs and joints
(with vocals!)
one day you will teach me to let go of my fears (with Tim Charles)

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

(recordings of These Hands Could Separate the Sky and This Is Your Captain Speaking to follow... when I can be bothered...)