Great bands don't last forever. Eventually, The Edge will hang up his guitar and Bono will retire his blue shades; Thom Yorke will settle down at a nice country villa in England to sip Earl Grey and write children's books; Peter Buck will give up music to focus on harassing flight attendants full-time. And who, dear audiophiles, will take their place when all the great bands retire?
Well, I'd nominate Sleeping at Last, a fiery new rock trio from Chicago. Though they never come close to attaining U2- or REM-like glory, all the elements of a promising start are present on their terrific debut, Ghosts; it's an album forged out of ocean-deep guitar tones, blazing rock 'n' roll energy, and substantial, poetic lyrics. I'd say they're the best new band of 2003.
Combining the sky-high guitars of Zwan with the atmospherics of Unforgettable Fire-era U2 and perhaps an occasional hint of Radiohead-like moodiness, Sleeping at Last's greatest weakness is that they sometimes show off their musical influences a bit too proudly. Hopefully future outings will find them distancing themselves from the shadow of Billy Corgan and The Edge; still, they muster more originality than most rock bands, and their musical prowess is impressive. Just listen to how effortlessly they leap from a piano ballad to a driving rock anthem in the title cut; Sleeping at Last is a band to keep your eye on.
"All that is Beautiful" is the kind of sophisticated pop rocker that you might find on a Switchfoot album. Singer/lyricist Ryan O'Neal shows off his formidable skills as a poet here, paying a tongue in cheek tribute to the isolationism of the church: "Outside of these walls is an awful place/ as far as I can tell... I am afraid that opinions are contagious." He shifts to a more introspective mood on the pleading title track: "God will you help us understand the meaning of it all?/ Will you send your angels down to us at our every call?" The chorus is a bit more enigmatic: "Like a moth to a flame we become helpless/ to the beautiful ghosts that true love sheds."
Too bad O'Neal's skills as a singer don't measure up to his abilities as a poet; he's got a terrific rock 'n' roll voice, often reminiscent of Bono, but he sings every song in the exact same way, never trying new approaches to singing, giving the album a slightly monotonous feel at times.
Full orchestration appears on several tracks, including the dreamy "Currents" and the lovely ballad "Hurry"; to the credit of producer Bjorn Thorsrud, the string accompaniment makes the songs sound rich and deep, like the symphonic songs from REM's Automatic for the People, not slick and overproduced like the new record from Starsailor.
In fact, Sleeping at Last is a band with far more daring and musicality than that group, or any of the other mediocre, Radiohead-lite bands crowding the rock scene right now (*cough*Coldplay*cough*). No, this is a new band that's worth watching. A new band that, with a little more originality, may one day become great. A new band with real backbone.
At last.
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2003Reviewed by Trae CadenheadFor most people, the name Sleeping at Last won't strike a bell. At least not yet. Hailing from the Chicago music scene where they have developed a strong local following, Sleeping at Last is poised to turn heads and attract a large crowd of listeners with their first major label release on Interscope. It seems that the musical climate is right for a band like Sleeping at Last, who displays a…Similar sounding releases
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