Review Summary: A very good major label debut for a largely over-looked band
Sleeping At Last have never really broken into the mainstream; ‘Ghosts’ was their first and, so far, only major label release. Don’t take this as a statement intended to degrade them however- it’s a spectacularly good album, particularly given the fact that it is their major label debut. I first got hold of this album near its release, however in my younger years, where I would completely disregard everything without heavily distorted guitars and vocalists wailing impetuously about their middleclass upbringing, I found it rather boring. Listening to it again now I regret not giving it more of a chance as it is a very good album.
The album opens with ‘Say’ which is one of the faster, ‘poppier’ songs, and the first and only single released from the album and it is a very good choice for such. The song starts of very quietly and ambient with layers of other instruments coming in, including vocalist, pianist and guitarist Ryan O’Neal’s raspy and reasonably high tones. Although, as already mentioned, it’s far poppier that the rest of the album, the song encapsulates what the band and the album as a whole is about; it’s very simplistic, but pleasantly so. The drumming is a strong point in this song- it’s tight and understated. It never does anything more than it’s meant to. It’s very much O’Neal’s band and fittingly the drumming never overshadows him, even as the song swells during the uplifting chorus. This is also seen in ‘All That Is Beautiful’ which has a very catching and compelling drumming track, but whenever it appears that it may be taking to the fore and stealing focus it recedes, allowing every syllable to be clearly heard.
The lyrics on the album range from strong to just above average. One of my personal favourites for lyricism is the fifth track, ‘Skeleton Of Something More’;
“But love travels like a rumour here,
Losing form with every year,
A skeleton of something more”
But as mentioned, there are a few problems with some of the lyrics. “Hurry” tries to relay some of the bands religious views, and I have no problem with that as such; that’s very much their choice, but personally I think that in this particular song they sound rather pretentious. Thankfully there are few cases where this becomes at all problematic with songs such as the title track, ‘Ghosts’ being strong lyrically. Even when they do however, the songs have a strong sense of cohesion, making it easy to forgive them.
One of the main selling points of the album is the vocals of Ryan O’Neal. They are gentle for the most part, but also stronger and more intense when they need to be, ‘Say’ being a good example for both of these traits, but either way, it’s full of emotion. I thought that it may get annoying over the album as it can occasionally sound a tiny bit whiney, however it compliments and is complimented by the music so well that it never really frustrates.
A lot of the music on this album is understated, restrained and minimalist. They’re very aware of what they want to do, and they are never tempted to get lazy and hide their skill in volume and distortion as many of their peers did. ‘Brightly’ is an excellent example of what I just said; even in the chorus where you would expect the volume to rise, they stay restrained and controlled. The drumming holds the song together tightly as it should and is very cymbal heavy which gives a gentle, almost dream like quality when played against the ambient guitar.
The last three songs, ‘Slowly, Now’, ‘Night Must End’ and ‘Trees (Hallways Of Leaves)’ follow similar patterns of swelling choruses and quiet, simplistic verses, and although they are all good songs on their own (‘Slowly, now’ in particular is very good) because of their similar structures, when played in a row they roll into each other, meaning that the end of the album isn’t as strong as it could be.
Overall, it’s a very strong album. All of the parts know precisely what they want to do and they never overtake any of the others. It’s very cohesive, the lyrics are mostly good, and although the vocals may not be everyone’s ‘cup of tea’ they work extremely well with the type of music. It’s just a shame that the album was largely over looked when released.
Download:
Say
Brightly
Skeleton of something more
Ghosts
Slowly, now
