Review Summary: “Water can drip and it can crash. Be like water, my friend.”
With an EP, two albums and two split releases under their belts, Germany’s The Tidal Sleep are a band that has refined their sound over the years, becoming ever more visceral and volatile over each release. Combining influences from post-rock, post-hardcore and indie into something mellifluous and urgent, The Tidal Sleep is a band that sounds similar to their influences yet produces a unique noise that will satisfy fans of anyone from Explosions in the Sky to Refused.
During
“Be Water”, there is a ceaseless wall of sound gliding mellifluously over waves of glistening guitar melodies and stormy rhythms. Since pauses occur rarely, the consistent stream of music offers an energetic feel to the album, making it one that is best consumed in its entirety as opposed to focusing on individual tracks. The Tidal Sleep manages to maintain this consistency by varying the song’s rhythms. “Undertows” starts off with smashing melodies and additional drum fills to establish a harsh soundscape, however, it slows down to a gentle surge where Marc and Matthias’ transcending guitars inhale and exhale in time with the undulating set pace. Coincidently suiting the band’s name, this tidal effect is utilised more frequently in “Bandages” by drifting between an immediate, panicked vocal performance, cascades of guitar and soothing melodies. Sometimes these pendulous rhythmic changes are only subtle. “Changes” maintains a consistent tempo even when they shift between variable intensities over fluidic riff patterns.
As the album title dictates, The Tidal Sleep never appears frozen or motionless. Odd elements and sinuous riffs break the surface of rushing tremolo riffing- which run throughout the album- teeming with passion and uplifting moods over the course of
“Be Water” .“Poisons” features some bizarre guitars that eventually morph into a short but immense atmosphere with the help of Nicholas’ powerful vocals and Armin’s turbulent drumming. Similarly, these fidgeting rhythmic changes take place during the pop infused “Hearses”, especially as the brooding bass and dry vocals implode into spacious, lonesome guitars before erupting into driven riffs once more. Coupled with light female vocals and rippling timbre guitars, Nicholas’ best vocals surface during the climactic closer “Footsteps”. Here, the band encapsulates the unpredictability of hardcore and the immersive soundscapes of post rock perfectly and provides us with a brief respite from the slight tendency The Tidal Sleep has to repeat the same song structures over different songs.
The Tidal Sleep mixes their own blend of melodic hardcore with various other genres to create something that is comparable to their influences yet identifiably their own sound. Indie characteristics can be found amongst the lyrics during “Spills” however the vocals are dry and throaty. Desperate melodies rise from beneath some destructive tremolo riffing during “Words”, theatrically ending with glittering synth- something that might not sound out of place on a Mogwai album. “Wreckages” is the slowest track on
“Be Water”-even though it’s still only less than 3 minutes- and the majority of it sounds like a bass-driven hardcore song, however, The Tidal Sleep still manages to include delicate vocals within the short duration that completely contrasts the distinctive hardcore aesthetic of the song.
Bruce Lee once said to “Be like water” as its shapelessness and amorphous structure forms any container that holds it. In this example, The Tidal Sleep is the container. A mixture of borrowed influences has been blended together in an uncoordinated mixture to create these songs but when this solution is placed inside the container, The Tidal Sleep morphs the mixture into their own shape, consequently taking the new form that is this album.
