Self Titled CD (SHMAT02)
Released: March 25, 2003
|
1. Febrile In February (play mp3)
2. Pop Song (play mp3) 3. Melting Point 4. Spellbound 5. Come on Baby 6. Go 7. Indian Giver 8. Leonid Sky 9. Where's My Happy Ending? |
Recommended for fans of: Galaxie 500, REM, That Dog, Shoestrings
This is the indie pop trio Light Sleeper's self titled debut record. The entire album was recorded and mixed by indie music veterans Richard (Cartes Blanches guitarist), Steve (ex-DT & the Shakes, bassist for Tigerella) and Yvonne (Tigerella vocalist) in their home office in the hills of Altadena, California.
You could start off talking about the chiming hooks, the intertwined melodies or the smart basslines. Any way you cut it, Light Sleeper's infectious self-titled first album proves the trio has earned a master's degree in writing the perfect pop song. Songs like "Febrile on February", "Pop Song", and "Come on Baby" will live with you in the shower for days on end. The slow majesty of "Leonid Sky" couples slightly spacey Galaxie 500 droning with jangling REM riffs. Light Sleeper posesses an uncanny knack for giving you standard musical feet to stand on without cutting off the circulation to your indie pop heart. It was certainly enough to resuscitate the Shmat's "super furry feet"...
Reviews / Press
All Music Guide, February 2004 - Johnny Loftus
"Everything I know about love/I learned from a "pop song"" Light Sleeper sings in the appropriately titled "Pop Song," and that pretty much defines this Cali trio's soft-focus love affair with the form. Spidery guitar figures, pleasantly woozy, synth-augmented rhythms, and hushed, co-ed vocals drift through this self-titled debut; it's clear Light Sleeper is still taken with the gooey, childlike grace that defined indie pop in the mid- to late-1990s. That said, they do tend to fill the smaller moments of their songs with more solid fare. "Pop Song"'s crackling Rickenbacker, for example, or the fully-formed Yo La Tengo homage of "Melting Point." Other highlights include the robust acoustic strumming of "Come on Baby," and "Leonid Sky"'s spacey-sweet love story. Fans of Darla Records should be quite taken with Light Sleeper's easygoing confection.
Tiny Mix Tapes, December 2003 - Husky
Tender were those moments that I held my first acoustic guitar. I learned a few generic chords; the C major, G major, A, and E minor. I would sit for hours and try to learn some of the "classics." With my taste in music back then, I considered Oasis’ "Wonderwall" and The Beatles’ "Ob-la-di-Ob-la-da" as such. Logically, I got bored of these "classics" and decided to write my own songs. Taken my current age at the time, most of these songs had to do with subjects such as acceptance, finding the right friends, falling in love, and many other problems that are now laughable fragments of the past. On returning home from school, I took my guitar and wrote songs that, in retrospect, could be described as pretty awful. Still, the experience of using a guitar to comfort myself certainly helped me through those teenage years.
That same feeling of nurture shines through the debut record of LA-based Light Sleeper. Softly strummed acoustic guitar, strange surreal lyrics (usually without a clear defined subject), and the warm, hush vocals of Yvonne Ng and Richard Crang, who bring Low’s Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker to mind. On its best moments, it feels like Light Sleeper is playing right beside your bed, lulling you into sleep with a song such as "Come On Baby" ...(Read the full review)
Aiding and Abetting #241, May 2003 - Jon Worley
Light Sleeper plays that Bacharach/David-style of pop music. Lots of strummed guitars, lots of restrained energy. Angst channeled into "ba ba ba"s and "koo koo ka choo"s. That sort of thing. And there's this loopily kinetic lead guitar that sorta drops in and out at the most appropriate of times. It's the guitar that really sets Light Sleeper apart. There are a lot of bands that do a nice job of channeling the early 70s, but not many are able to update the sound as well as these folks. The production is stock for this kinda music. Vaguely fuzzy with an emphasis on the treble. The only part that doesn't fit is the exceptionally flat (some might call it "clean") sound on that lead guitar, and that counterpoint works astonishingly well. What might have been simply another fine pop record climbs a notch above. Light Sleeper is aptly named; just when you think you've settled down there's something that pricks up the ears and wakes you up. I like that, myself.
Other Reviews:
Demo Universe, July 2004 - Jim Santo
Smother.Net, Editor's Pick December 2003 - J-Sin
Left Off The Dial, November 2003 - Nick Doyle
The Bee's Knees #19, October 2003
Lost At Sea, July 2003 - Kevin Alfoldy
IndiePages, June 2003
Erasing Clouds, April 2003 - Dave Heaton
The Original Sin, March 2003 - Didier Becu
"Everything I know about love/I learned from a "pop song"" Light Sleeper sings in the appropriately titled "Pop Song," and that pretty much defines this Cali trio's soft-focus love affair with the form. Spidery guitar figures, pleasantly woozy, synth-augmented rhythms, and hushed, co-ed vocals drift through this self-titled debut; it's clear Light Sleeper is still taken with the gooey, childlike grace that defined indie pop in the mid- to late-1990s. That said, they do tend to fill the smaller moments of their songs with more solid fare. "Pop Song"'s crackling Rickenbacker, for example, or the fully-formed Yo La Tengo homage of "Melting Point." Other highlights include the robust acoustic strumming of "Come on Baby," and "Leonid Sky"'s spacey-sweet love story. Fans of Darla Records should be quite taken with Light Sleeper's easygoing confection.
Tiny Mix Tapes, December 2003 - Husky
Tender were those moments that I held my first acoustic guitar. I learned a few generic chords; the C major, G major, A, and E minor. I would sit for hours and try to learn some of the "classics." With my taste in music back then, I considered Oasis’ "Wonderwall" and The Beatles’ "Ob-la-di-Ob-la-da" as such. Logically, I got bored of these "classics" and decided to write my own songs. Taken my current age at the time, most of these songs had to do with subjects such as acceptance, finding the right friends, falling in love, and many other problems that are now laughable fragments of the past. On returning home from school, I took my guitar and wrote songs that, in retrospect, could be described as pretty awful. Still, the experience of using a guitar to comfort myself certainly helped me through those teenage years.
That same feeling of nurture shines through the debut record of LA-based Light Sleeper. Softly strummed acoustic guitar, strange surreal lyrics (usually without a clear defined subject), and the warm, hush vocals of Yvonne Ng and Richard Crang, who bring Low’s Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker to mind. On its best moments, it feels like Light Sleeper is playing right beside your bed, lulling you into sleep with a song such as "Come On Baby" ...(Read the full review)
Aiding and Abetting #241, May 2003 - Jon Worley
Light Sleeper plays that Bacharach/David-style of pop music. Lots of strummed guitars, lots of restrained energy. Angst channeled into "ba ba ba"s and "koo koo ka choo"s. That sort of thing. And there's this loopily kinetic lead guitar that sorta drops in and out at the most appropriate of times. It's the guitar that really sets Light Sleeper apart. There are a lot of bands that do a nice job of channeling the early 70s, but not many are able to update the sound as well as these folks. The production is stock for this kinda music. Vaguely fuzzy with an emphasis on the treble. The only part that doesn't fit is the exceptionally flat (some might call it "clean") sound on that lead guitar, and that counterpoint works astonishingly well. What might have been simply another fine pop record climbs a notch above. Light Sleeper is aptly named; just when you think you've settled down there's something that pricks up the ears and wakes you up. I like that, myself.
Other Reviews:
Demo Universe, July 2004 - Jim Santo
Smother.Net, Editor's Pick December 2003 - J-Sin
Left Off The Dial, November 2003 - Nick Doyle
The Bee's Knees #19, October 2003
Lost At Sea, July 2003 - Kevin Alfoldy
IndiePages, June 2003
Erasing Clouds, April 2003 - Dave Heaton
The Original Sin, March 2003 - Didier Becu