Praise for Pyramid:
“This guy really did make some pretty damned good music.” - Spacerockmountain
Praise for Carnival:
“His mold of shoegaze/drone/psychedelic is not only engaging, but keeps you on your toes for each coming track...Another incredible album from Duncan.” - The Noise Is…
Sleep In is one of those artists that took me completely by surprise. He was only 18 when he sent me an email containing Pyramid. About a minute into it, when I began solidifying an opinion about the music and the person that made it, it changed. Suddenly, it was something else.
That’s the way these records go. Dark one minute, upbeat the next; mumbled folk for a few measures before the distorted guitars drop in, distorted guitars for a few measures before the hip-hop inspired drums drop in. And then they all drop out, and you begin again.
Sleep In utilize loops, and samples, and you’ve heard those things before, and so have I. But here we have proof that personality means more than anything. Those loops and samples and bits and pieces go together in such a way that I never would have expected, never would have predicted; and yet, in the moment, sound completely natural. Nothing forced. Nothing deliberate.
Shoegaze, dubstep, industrial, indie rock, drone - there are parts in these songs that match those criteria, but really, the whole is something different. So let’s talk about the records, because you get two, here:
Pyramid is the older record by about a year. It leans to the rock/indie/industrial sides. This is the record I fell in love with: mumbled vocals, catchy drum beats, guitars that are heavy and yet relaxed, somehow. Like a slacker Sonic Youth, not trying too hard to be avant garde. It’s incredible, it’s addictive, and it ends too early.
In Carnival, Sleep In’s follow up, we see a more experimental, more drone-oriented side to the project. The beats are still there; Sleep In never quite strays into the fully ambient or abstract. Instead, you have tightly-structured songs sprawl across the album. Dense guitars, menacing samples, layered into Sleep In’s trademark catchiness.
These two records together form the thesis statement of an incredibly talented new artist. I highly, highly recommend that you check them out. Support the musician and get these two sick albums for 5 fucking dollars. You will thank me later.