WL//WH Review The Empty Sleeps
Following the well-received debut “Good Place”, Adelaide, Australia dream-gaze 2-piece ‘The Empty Sleeps’, made of Nic Datson (formerly of No Through Road / Alpha Beta Fox) and Tristan Hennig (formerly of Little Ice Age / Bye Bye Mountain), return into the new year with the recording project “PANTHERS”.
Stepping back into the much-loved single-remix format of the ’90s, the “Panthers” EP rides the wave of collaboration with a single version by The Empty Sleeps alongside remixes by fellow Adelaide musicians Blush Response, Tim Koch, Lone Kite, Deep Sea Data and Dental Jams/Ezroh.
The main track “Panthers” sculpts an enveloping sensory aural swirl that unfolds slowly and relentlessly, deeply immersive yet densely palpable, into a bright melodic palpitating kaleidoscope, pervaded by intimate emotional intensity, which plunges into an iridescent ocean of mesmeric sparkling guitar chords and sun dazzled reverberations, swaying gently in lulling shimmering refracting vastness, charged with bittersweet whispers, infused of anxiety and disillusionment, whilst slipping narcotically away into an enshrouding escapist dream.
It’s a trippy journey through multifaceted sonic territories, spamming from ambient, IDM, drone, hi-hop, electro-acoustic and breakbeat, starting with the symphonic off-tempo lush textured flutter of fellow shoegazers Blush Response, permeated with a placid iridescent electro-acoustic spell, to follow with the glitchy scattered tinny broken disorientation of disruptive layered static anxiety by the atmospheric IDM soundscaper Tom Koch, and the otherworldly yet haunting, new agey dazzling and flickering surf of the mysterious Lone Kite. Experimental pop duo Deep Sea Data depict chiming tones and soft falling distant echoes, drifting on a soothing, tinkling electro-acoustic lullaby, slowly switches to both anxious and sad, airless subdued distortions, to end with hip-hop producer Ezroh that teams up with vintage psych synth experimentalist Dental Jams morphing surreal dub-flavoured, glitchy hip hop beats, dirty bass distortion, and creepy vocal samples, for a claustrophobic leftfield delivery.
While the shoegaze aficionados could turn their attention, lost in immersive bliss, to the title track and the Blush Response Rmx, the most daring electronic-leaning listeners will overall enjoy the whole immersive experience, enhanced by the glacial, ominous yet soothing, liquid ambient expansions rippled by rhythmic refractions, from bedroom producer turned video game composer Morgan Read, as digital bonus remix.
The Empty Sleeps‘ “Panthers” is available on Limited Edition Vinyl 10″ / Compact Disc & Digital via the band’s Bandcamp.
