GROWING

One of the finest bands to come out of the growing math rock genre, Sleeping People, at a very young age, already wield the power and authority of a veteran heavy rock band. This could be the mathematical act that breaks out of the genre and 'makes it big', ie outside the fans of math rock. The big star here, and the main reason for People's mature sound, is powerhouse guitarist Joileah Maddock and her arsenal of advanced guitar techniques. Comparisons to King Crimson are probably common with math rock bands, but no one earns that lofty tribute better than the People on this album which often sounds like the great grand- daughter of Fripp's mid to late 70s work from Larks Tongue to League of Gentlemen. Maddock is no mere copycat though, her precise interweaving lines mark her as a crafty guitarist in her own right.

Not to wear out the Crimson comparison, but my favorite moments on this album involve bone crunching whole tone chord progressions over grooving odd-metered kit work that sound like off-takes from the classic Starless album. Elsewhere on this album SP gives us an Enoish electronic number on Out Dream , as well as concert hall styled guitar minimalism on Centipede Dream. Although many of the songs on here are well arranged and carry much more impact than the usual generic math ditty, at their worst some SP songs drag on with too many pointless mathematical change-ups and not enough direction.

As mentioned before, this is the math rock band that could 'break', but before any math band hits the big time they are going to have to break some of their own overly strict rules. This album would easily crossover to classic progressive rock status if there was some occasional sustained melody, and would it really kill the mathematical guitarist to break out in a solo occasionally, either melodic or fret shredding. I keep wanting to hear a Manzenera styled hook, or maybe some Jeff Beckish sustained bends that would lift this music to the next level. Someday some hot shot producer like Laswell or Eno is going to grab one of these bands and fill out their sound and make them the next big thing. Until then, Sleeping People stand at, or near, the head of the pack in this still developing genre.

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