Review Summary: "You're safe now, don’t fight."
All the way back in 2009, Animal Collective’s Joshua “Deakin” Dibb was recently on leave from the band. Exhausted from the constant touring following the success of 2005’s
Strawberry Jam, Dibb had been given the opportunity to play in Mali alongside Gang Gang Dance, as well as Animal Collective. The band declined due to their own commitments at the time, while Dibb and GGD had accepted the offer to play the landlocked country. The premise of this trip was to simply play a show, come home and create material stemming from their experiences in the West African country. To fund this endeavor, a Kickstarter campaign was brought up to raise the necessary funds to get Dibb and co. to Mali. Shortly afterward, GGD had dropped out, leaving Dibb to travel to Mali alone. While Dibb wanted to play Mali, he found himself at odds with the amount of money the campaign was asking for – a massive $25,000, just to play one show on the other side of the world. To justify the funding, Dibb donated most of the proceeds to TEMEDT, an anti-slavery organization. While Dibb did travel to Mali and performed, his intentions for his first solo work, then in an embryonic state, had significantly changed. Seven years, and various delays later, Dibb unveiled his
Sleep Cycle to the world – his pet project greatly influenced by his time in Mali.
Coming in the wake of the high-octane
Painting With,
Sleep Cycle is the exact opposite of the Collective’s most recent work. Where the former was full of fast, catchy tunes with no time for rest,
Sleep Cycle is a hazy, slow-burning song cycle full of ambient textures, with touches of folk and electronic music as well. The difference between the two are as clear as night and day, to say the least. The introductory
”Golden Chords” harkens back to the early folky sound of
Campfire Songs (complete with the sounds of the nighttime as well), while
”Just Am” and
”Footy” are densely layered with electronics and feature a prominent percussion section as well. Whereas
”Just Am”’s beat is obscured beneath glimmering piano lines and the haze of synthesizers,
”Footy” has a driving, erratic rhythm that rouses the listener from what was previously a rather soothing experience.
The penultimate track,
”Seed Song” vaguely borrows from
Here Comes The Indian’s
”Panic”, droning over bubbling synths and sampled field recordings of Mali that lead into the comforting lull of
”Good House”. Over a span of just seven minutes,
”Good House” returns the listener to the relaxing ambience that had forsaken the album after
”Footy”, with Dibb’s cooing vocal being put front and center, putting away any doubts of Dibb’s vocal ability, once drenched in effects on past recordings. Here, Dibb sounds more vulnerable than ever, with lines such as
“my hands/can show us the way/but feel how they shake” and
”as I spin/I grow/embracing decay” showing us someone who is still uncertain of their capabilities, yet they’re gaining confidence in their own abilities as an artist.
At just about thirty-four minutes,
Sleep Cycle comes and goes, flawlessly reflecting Dibb’s own trip to Mali all those years ago. As the dying synthesizers and night sounds fade away into nothingness, the fleeting emotion of
Sleep Cycle urge one to experience the album all over again. Each time, there’s something new to be found within each song thanks to the great attention to detail, all thanks to Dibb’s self-admitted “fatal perfectionism” that had caused
Sleep Cycle to be reconfigured over a seven year period. By listening to
Sleep Cycle, not only are you experiencing Dibb's journey secondhand, but you are experiencing something entirely new yourself within this work of beauty.
