Hearts Get No Sleep – Sleep Keepers (Reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Sleep Keepers are a band built of contradictions and collisions, of both celebrating differences and sharing common ground. The core players behind the music describe themselves as being “ a guitar player from a war zone and a lead singer from the capital of Ukraine” which already imbues them with a wonderfully enigmatic cloak. When in full flow they are a wonderful mix of dystopian melodies, trippy dance beats and raw alternative rock, of sweet soaring vocals and visceral underground experimentation. It is dark, it is futuristic, it is effortlessly cool.

It is an interesting, not to mention brave, move then for the band to release an album like Hearts Get No Sleep, a piano led collection of songs which hints as much at a past classical tradition and symphonic soundscape as it does their usual dark future visions. All the hallmarks of the bands sound are still there but it has been cleverly stripped back; loud dynamic breaks have been replaced by chilling atmospheric interludes, shimmering pianos now fill the space that would otherwise have been occupied by rigid beats and the overall affect is altogether less tangible. If their usual sound can be seen as a flame casting dancing shadows and illuminating the space around them, this then is the spiraling smoke that is left to drift and softly fade once the candle has gone out. Hypnotic, emotive and ghostlike.

Not just a brave move then but a confident and clever one, one that shows a different side to Sleep Keepers yet still has the same heart beating at its centre. As an introduction to their music or as an alternative to what you already love about them, this is a set of songs that will really put them on the map.

For all things Sleep Keepers, including this e.p. click HERE