Album Review: sleepmakeswaves - These Are Not Your Dreams

Sydney’s sleepmakeswaves are this writer’s favourite all-instrumental act of all time, so that’s always going to be tough to live up to; especially with such an illustrious canon of recorded works behind them. It’s an interesting move to release three EPs in a row as opposed to a regular album. It kinda reflects the bizarre times we find ourselves in.

These EPs have been bundled together as one release as These Are Not Your Dreams, but also viewed in isolation, these EPs are excellent. They may not be quite as riveting and cathartic as the three full-lengthers they have put out over the last decade or so, but they will still hold a strong place in their catalogue in the wash-up of this band’s career and, as stated, reflect the times in which they surfaced.

Something the listener will notice on first listen is the regular presence of vocals across the course of the 12 tracks this release offers up, both of a formal and a more ambient/ethereal kind. The band members must have been in a different place, mentally and emotionally, as they created these works (as most of us are at this time), and must have felt that certain ideas were better expressed via vocals and lyrics. Some fans may not like it, but sleepmakeswaves are a band that play perpetually by their own rules. Whether this means the band will pursue this course more in the future is uncertain. It’s likely they haven’t decided themselves at this stage.

Never a band to stand still, this is the next step in this band’s captivating evolution, and is a must for their many fans worldwide.