Wintersleep - Welcome To The Night Sky

Just when you think you’ve already got enough painfully earnest alt-rock from rural Canada to be going on with...

Posted Tuesday, 3 February 2009 in

Wintersleep

Rating: 8

Just when you think you’ve already got enough painfully earnest alt-rock from rural Canada to be going on with, along come another bunch of basement dwellers with lush melodies and a penchant for lyrical introspection that you just can’t resist. In truth, Nova Scotia’s Wintersleep have been around for the best part of a decade but it’s this, their third album, that should see them finally appearing on the world’s indie radar. Reverb-heavy torch anthems such as ‘Search Party’ and ‘Weighty Ghost’ provide a big part of their appeal, but it’s when the band venture into heavier realms that the magic really seems to descend. Especially indicative of this is the epic, eight-minute opus ‘Miasmal Smoke And The Yellow Bellied Freaks’ which begins as little more than a post-rock whisper but builds into a rousing juggernaut of noise that sounds like the Arcade Fire racing towards a glorious obliteration. It must be said that Wintersleep are certainly not original in the music they create but when added to the emotive and beautifully engrossing tones of singer Paul Murphy, ‘Welcome To The Night Sky’ glows with the kind of soul that draws you right in.

Hardeep Phull

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