***Wintersleep!!***

audiodave

Link still works for me, but this is what it says.

http://www.ffwdweekly.com/article/music/cd-reviews/wintersleep-welcome-night-sky/

Wintersleep - Welcome to the Night Sky
Labwork

Published October 4, 2007 by Jason Lewis in CD Reviews

Many bands mix loud-quiet-loud tactics with shoegaze sensibilities, but few do it with the intricacy of Wintersleep. With a keen ear for pop melodies, they tear open epic anthems with the roar of frantic, rapid-fire guitar work. Straight-up rockers are split in two with seesaw riffs and cataclysmic drum fills. Even after using a phase pedal at full wash, they can still hold their heads high.

Vocally, front man Paul Murphy sounds a bit like Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder without the cheesy operatics, or like Rheostatic Martin Tielli without the squelch. He’s got a sweet lilt that lends itself to the band’s pitch-perfect atmospherics and has just enough edge to play off the ragged edges of Wintersleep’s powerhouse singalongs. Whether he’s telling tales of urgency or slipping into mantra-like choruses, the results are equally engaging.

All of this comes together on album closer “Miasmal Smoke & the Yellow Bellied Freaks.” With an indie-rock build of the highest calibre, this eight-minute opus is the topper on an album of brilliant tension. It’s engaging, it’s massive and it’s beautiful. It’s everything you have come to expect from Wintersleep and more.

civ_eng_girl

thanks audiodave! that's a great review!

I'm not sure i agree with the Eddie comparison.... actually, just on the way out to lunch today, my coworker, who had never heard them before, said they sounded like Alice In Chains, which I think is a better comparison... but still not quite... Paul's voice just isn't deep enough to be like Ed's...

It’s engaging, it’s massive and it’s beautiful.

this pretty much sums it up for me!

Astird

civ_eng_girl wrote:

yay! i'm so glad you had fun! thanks for the pic! yummmmmmmyyy!

Degrassi.... LMAO!

please post vids!

I uploaded one of the vids to youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luiifnf_jdc

The other song is 11 min. Too big.

civ_eng_girl

MurphyJesus wrote:

I uploaded one of the vids to youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luiifnf_jdc

The other song is 11 min. Too big.

Thanks MJ! that's awesome.... pretty good sound quality too!

damn, i wish the other file wasn't so big! 11 min? was it Nerves Normal?

urbanhippie

mookie blaylock 10 wrote:

looks like you can still get the first disc on their own store site, urbanhippie. maplemusic is out of stock, but there's no disclaimer about that here...

http://www.wintersleep.com/store/category.aspx?id=albums

Thanks for the info....

Where's that credit card.......?

civ_eng_girl

urbanhippie wrote:

Thanks for the info....

Where's that credit card.......?

get Welcome To The Night Sky while you're at it! :D:D

urbanhippie

I heard some of it on their myspace....
archeologists?

It was beautiful

Astird

civ_eng_girl wrote:

Thanks MJ! that's awesome.... pretty good sound quality too!

damn, i wish the other file wasn't so big! 11 min? was it Nerves Normal?

yep, that's the other song. If you get Pando i can send it to you.

http://www.pando.com

civ_eng_girl

MurphyJesus wrote:

yep, that's the other song. If you get Pando i can send it to you.

http://www.pando.com

do you want to try http://www.yousendit.com or http://www.sendthisfile.com?

don't have to download any software...

my email is vedder4prez@hotmail.com

civ_eng_girl

Reviews:: Wintersleep - Welcome To The Night Sky

Wintersleep has been one of the bigger names to come out the Halifax scene in the last few years. While I certainly enjoyed a lot of the work they did on their two previous untitled albums, I don't think they blew me away. Well, after spending time with their latest, and first titled, album, Welcome To The Night Sky, you might as well give me a bad fake Irish accent and cast me opposite Jeff Bridges, because I am indeed blown away this time.

Recorded in Halifax at Sonic Temple studios by Tony Doogan, it was mixed in Glasgow at Castle Of Doom Studios, which, I have to say, is a rather excellent name for a studio. I don't know if it's the UK influence, but Paul Murphy's vocals have more of a lilting, deliberate quality than I remember from the band's previous work. But I think it's a good match for the album's vivid tales of astronauts and excavating whale bones. You always have the feeling that Murphy is holding back, and that creates a tension that takes the songs up a couple notches.

More often then not, when the songs need to be turned loose, the band does heavy lifting. The consistent drumming and fuzzy guitars of Drunk On Aluminum build steadily until breaking into a full shoegazey gallop and then stopping completely. A brief guitar flurry feels like a whole new song before things get quiet again and Murphy finishes the song off. It's quite a ride to open the album. Archaeologists continues that ride with a bouncy bassline and some floaty ambient vocal ad-libs which provide an unstoppably toe-tapping backdrop for a tale about the remains of a winged boy being found in the belly of a whale. It could be some kind of religious metaphor, but honestly I have no idea. I do know it's the first time I couldn't get the lyrics "belly of a whale, belly of a whale, belly of a whale" out of my head.

I think most people will agree the album's centerpiece is Weighty Ghost, which is clearly the catchiest song about losing one's identity I've ever heard. Organ, strummed guitar, handclaps, and community backing vocals are not only a break from the band's heavy, electric sound, but it's also the perfect recipe for a sing-along inducing crowd pleaser at future Wintersleep shows. The catchy, more straight-forward rockers Oblivion and Laser Beams build up to the epic album finale Miasmal Smoke & The Yellow Bellied Freaks. Ordinarily I might tend to regard an eight minute plus song with such an obscure title as a little self-indulgent, but it works here.

The melodic choruses on Welcome To The Night Sky probably make it more accessible to the average listener, but I doubt their longtime fans will have any issue with that. For me, I just think it's a great album, 10 varied, and excellent songs that I've listened many times already and I'm not tired of it at all. Check it out for yourself.

here's the link... you can even listen to Drunk On Aluminum there!
http://www.herohill.com/2007/10/reviews-wintersleep-welcome-to-night.htm

Ordinarily I might tend to regard an eight minute plus song with such an obscure title as a little self-indulgent, but it works here.

lol! that bit made me laugh!

mookie blaylock 10

sweet! thanks for posting that review, ceg....and for giving us a new name out here, "the nautical halidonians".

sometimes i wish they'd had access to that kind of production for "wintersleep", because it doesn't quite capture that larger than life sound they have live, but i guess that would be difficult to do anyway. it's still a gem as it is.

civ_eng_girl

mookie blaylock 10 wrote:

sweet! thanks for posting that review, ceg....and for giving us a new name out here, "the nautical halidonians".

sounds like an obscure, self-indulgent, Wintersleep song title...

mookie blaylock 10 wrote:

sometimes i wish they'd had access to that kind of production for "wintersleep", because it doesn't quite capture that larger than life sound they have live, but i guess that would be difficult to do anyway. it's still a gem as it is.

i know! i seriously can't describe how freakin' amazing they sound live!

and the funny thing is, that all the live videos posted on youtube sound awful! and the louder they play, the worse it sounds on those crappy camera/video/phone mics! when in reality, the louder they play, the more heart-poundingly, head-swimmingly, beautiful it is!!

Astird

civ_eng_girl wrote:

do you want to try http://www.yousendit.com or http://www.sendthisfile.com?

don't have to download any software...

my email is vedder4prez@hotmail.com

Good thinking. I'll upload it tomorrow.

audiodave

I just ordered all three albums from the Wintersleep website!

Absolutely no idea when they'll get here, but nevermind. I'm still excited.

audiodave

I've recently discovered the second album. :eek: Why did it take me so long! It's awesome. I've been listening to it on repeat for two days now.

civ_eng_girl

audiodave wrote:

I've recently discovered the second album. :eek: Why did it take me so long! It's awesome. I've been listening to it on repeat for two days now.

:D

Nerves Normal, Breath Normal is what made me fall for them in the first place....

Listen, Listen, Listen made me fall even harder...

urbanhippie

civ_eng_girl wrote:

:D

Nerves Normal, Breath Normal is what made me fall for them in the first place....

Listen, Listen, Listen made me fall even harder...

Listen, Listen, Listen HAS to be my favorite...:D
I heard their second album first and am completely obessessed...:) The first album is also great, but I think the third may have to grow on me a bit more...

Here's hoping they decide to visit this side of the pond in the near future....

audiodave

urbanhippie wrote:

Listen, Listen, Listen HAS to be my favorite...:D
I heard their second album first and am completely obessessed...:) The first album is also great, but I think the third may have to grow on me a bit more...

Here's hoping they decide to visit this side of the pond in the near future....

It took a while for Welcome To The Night Sky to grow on me aswell. There were a few tracks I thought were great, but the rest I was unsure about. Give it a chance, and it will blow you away!

urbanhippie

audiodave wrote:

It took a while for Welcome To The Night Sky to grow on me aswell. There were a few tracks I thought were great, but the rest I was unsure about. Give it a chance, and it will blow you away!

I think it will too. I already love archeologists....

civ_eng_girl

urbanhippie wrote:

I think it will too. I already love archeologists....

i liked archeologists a lot better once i read the lyrics... i had trouble hearing any words besides the "belly of a whale" part, and i thought it was a bit repetative.... but they're really lovely, now that i know them!

The archeologists found
Some winged boy's remains
Stained by the fire and clouds
In the belly of a whale
The day the lightning came.

The belly of a whale....

Packed up and shipped to London
Discard, discard, the rotted parts
Preserve the heart and the lungs.

i'm not sure what it means, but i love the imagery!