Imagine a slightly less polished Editors. Imagine Snow Patrol’s first two albums, before Final Straw, the one’s nobody cared about. And, as HMV so aptly described it, imagine a Coldplay influenced by R.E.M., Neil Young and lumberjack shirts instead of Radiohead. Imagine these things and you can imagine Wintersleep.
Welcome To The Night Sky is the Canadian five-piece’s European debut. Back in Canada, they have another two albums as well as awards and national acclaim. Welcome To The Night Sky is their attempt at making it big across the Atlantic.
The album takes a balanced approach, containing fast paced guitar melodies and acoustic rock songs, as well a couple of ballads that require lighters (or, more likely, mobile phones) to be raised while listening to them.
Archaeologists is one of the singles from the album and its rhythmic drums and bass and "aaaahhhhing" backing vocals make it an anthem for fans of this band, while the synthesizers of Weighty Ghost are reminiscent of Neil Young’s Like a Hurricane in terms of their sound, not their chords or rhythm.
Despite the importance of this album for Wintersleep, they have played it very safe with this effort, sticking largely to the electric pop/indie drum sound so many up and coming bands are adopting these days.
Oblivion sounds like a big song for Wintersleep, with its crashing drums and looping guitar riff. You can imagine fans screaming "Oblivion!" over and over again in unison with lead vocalist Paul Murphy.
Murphy’s vocals are a gift and a curse on this album. At times, they work wonderfully to blend and add a different dimension to the songs (Weighty Ghost and Oblivion being the examples). Other times, though, his baritone voice vanishes amidst all the drums, guitars and synthesizers and you do not know what he is singing about (Laser Beams is a prime example here).
The album is no better and no worse than any of the new music arriving on the scene in recent months. The only thing is, this is Wintersleep’s third album already, having formed in 2002. They have yet to find a sound of their own, like so many of the band’s today, and if they are to make a lasting impression on the current scene they need to do something innovative in a scene currently lacking innovation.
Rating: 3/5
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