FIVES: THE BEST WONDER YEARS SONGSThis week Lansdale, Pennsylvania’s The Wonder Years released their fourth album - ‘The Greatest Generation,’ a record that sees the pop punk quintet reach their creative peak in a number of ways. With a wealth of material in their discography, Already Heard's Sean Reid and Tom Knott took on the tricky task of picking out the five best songs from The Wonder Years. Find out what we picked and let us know if you agree or disagree?
INTERVIEW: MALLORY KNOXFollowing the release of their superb 'Signals' album, Mallory Knox have certainly become ones to watch in recent months. We caught up with the band to discuss joining Search & Destroy Records, how vital the festival season and touring are, what it feels like to be a part
of the expanding British rock scene and much more.
ALREADY HEARD RECOMMENDS: OVER THE OCEANOver The Ocean have crafted a compelling, brooding record with their latest effort ‘Be Given To The Soil.’ With intense specific precision and delicate accuracy that echoes the likes of Explosions In The Sky and Sigur Ros. Jesse Hill from the band to discusses how the
album came together, the importance of precision, being compared to post-rock pioneers and more.
VERSUS: BRING ME THE HORIZON - 'THERE IS A HELL...' VS 'SEMPITERNAL'After a top ten UK album and an outstanding UK tour with festival dates on both sides of the Atlantic to follow, Bring Me The Horizon are having a fantastic 2013 and are now featured in the latest edition of "Versus." It's ‘There is a Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There is a Heaven, Let’s Keep it a Secret’ vs the bands latest release, 'Sempiternal.'
ALREADY HEARD TRACK GUIDE: ALEXANDER - SAY HELLOWe catch up with Newcastle Indie Rock quartet Alexander to find out more about their debut album 'Say Hello' for a “Already Heard Track Guide” feature.
INTERVIEW: TITLE FIGHTHaving briefly returned to the UK for the Hit The Deck Festival before starting a European
tour, we caught up with vocalist/bassist Ned Russin to discuss the bands progression in sound, differences between UK and US festivals, their recent split with Touché Amoré,
having friends on tour and more.
Album Review: Sleepless - Unsteady Hands
Canada’s Sleepless certainly didn’t give me much information to go off in terms of the background of the band. It is safe to say that I still don’t know too much about them now. What I do know is that their blend of progressive, hard rock is a strong sound for a band in their infancy. Mixing between soft and gruff powerful vocals, intricate guitar and bass work it is a sound that is not new but is being done well.
Opening track ‘So Low, Solo’ demonstrates brilliant vocal harmonies, twiddly emo vibe guitars and an outro reminiscent of ‘In Keeping Secrets…’ era Coheed and Cambria. ‘If I Were to Say’ is an example of a grittier sound, the song still holds that progressive vibe (albeit the shortest track on the EP) but it it develops from the softer tones of the opening track.
By the third track they have developed and brought together the sounds of the twiddly and intricate musicianship of the opener and heavier style of the following track to create what could be said is the definitive Sleepless sound. ‘Faces In Clouds’ and ‘Heavy Eyes’ both follow this style and there is not much else to say about them. ‘Anchored’ their closing track, provides a great finish with the accompaniment of strings and a familiar choral style ending.
As I have already pointed out this is a band in their infancy, and as I don’t know much of their background I can only presume things. If this is the members first band then for a début you couldn’t have a better starting point; they have a brilliantly produced selection of songs here. Their musicianship and song writing cannot be faulted, neither can their creativity. They are a group who with time, will get better and better, you cannot go wrong with a début this strong.
3.5/5
‘Unsteady Hands’ by Sleepless is available now on Bandcamp.
Sleepless links: Official Website|Facebook|Bandcamp
Words by Robert Maddison (@bertmaddison)
