sleepmakeswaves – It’s Here, But I Have No Names For It (Album Review)

sleepmakeswaves – It’s Here but I Have no Names For it
Released: April 12^th, 2024

Lineup:

Alex Wilson // Bass, keys
Tim Adderley // Drums
Otto Wicks-Green // Guitars

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Up front, I am an unabashed, unbridled fan of sleepmakeswaves. They are my favourite all-instrumental band on the planet. That they hail from Australia is just a massive bonus (and it means we get to see them play live on a more regular basis than anyone else.)

There is just something highly distinctive about their music. There are a lot of instrumental bands around, and many of them are excellent. There are many post-rock instrumental bands around. But no one sounds like sleepmakeswaves. If you get to know their sound intimately, as I have, you recognise it in the blink of an eye.

Now, here we are, approaching their twentieth year as a band, and they unleash their fourth studio album. It boggles my mind how consistent they’ve been over that time, and across those five albums. And that continues unabated on It’s Here but I Have no Names For it. Is it the best album they’ve done? Probably not (in this humble fan and writer’s opinion, that accolade remains with 2017’s Made of Breath Only), but, behind yet another highly enigmatic title, there is an absolute cracker waiting to be discovered.

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Every track on this album is a meticulously crafted work of art, from bombastic, barnstorming opener ‘All Hail Skull’, through to ‘This Close Forever’, which is sweetly dreamy and wistful for half its length before opening out and rocking TF out, and closing proceedings in climactic style.

In between, we are taken on a transcendent journey into soundscapes, both grandiose and highly varied, and into the creative minds and imaginations of the three main protagonists of the band. We get balls-out rock (‘Ritual Control’), acoustic interludes and stringy, movie soundtrack-like theatricality (‘Black Paradise’, which, at the time of writing, was this writer’s favourite cut), dark, evocative, Blade Runner-esque synths (‘Verdigris’), highly effective use of ambient vocals (‘Terror Future’) and the centrepiece of it all, the epic, slow-burn build of the eight-and-a-half-minute title track. And plenty more besides.

Yep, it’s a headspinning, rollercoaster ride of musical emotion. But in the washup, it is completely cohesive and makes perfect sense. And on top of the dynamic, cinematic and epic qualities of the music, the musicianship is god-tier, although in a non-flashy way, and the production is simultaneously gut-punchingly powerful and full of sweet, ear-pleasing clarity.

For the uninitiated, this is not instant gratification music. If this is your first experience of this band, or even of this entire sub-genre, go into it with an open mind and give it time to breathe and grow in your mind. If you do, the ultimate rewards are profound. Then go discover their back-catalogue.

One of the best albums of 2024, no question.

Rating: 9/10
It’s Here… is out April 12 – Get it here
Review by: Rod Whitfield