A Lukewarm Wind From the North
Wintersleep's third album stays in hibernation
Wintersleep
Welcome to the Night Sky
Released on Nov 30, -0001
Welcome to the Night Sky is the third album from Nova Scotia's Wintersleep. Upon first listen one will notice that the sensitive man rock vocals of front man Paul Murphy tickle the same ivories of Chris Martin from Coldplay. It's a tried and true formula that has sold millions of albums world wide for Coldplay; but unfortunately doesn't work here. The majority of tunes just don't demand the listener's precious time. The two songs that do manage to stand out are poorly placed at the end of the album. Golden Rule kids - never let the band sequence their own albums. They're too indebted to the songs and can't make rational decisions when it comes to the very important task of sequencing. Just a guess, but that's what I'm thinking happened here.
"Astronaut," strangely enough, reminds me of an enjoyable Counting Crows track, though very few of those exist. It's a straight ahead pop song fit for a good cross country trek. The drums are rhythmic and mixed well. Now I say that because Wintersleep seem to make it a point to treat the drums on most tracks with some redundant distortion or needless ironic mixing.
The best track on Welcome to the Night Sky comes all the way at the end. "Miasmal Smoke & the Yellow Bellied Freaks" would make any fan of Arcade Fire or Neutral Milk Hotel get up and slam dance along. It's a fuzzed out, hypnotic track that really should be showcased here.
High Point
Low Point
Posted by Joe Roth on Oct 09, 2007 @ 12:00 am