Review Summary: With their latest LP, Sleepingdog has once again created an album that will haunt our ears, engage our minds, and ultimately embrace our hearts.
Sleepingdog is hardly the face of modern day indie, but they have still managed to make quite an impact on those who have experienced their music. Pure, elegant, and breathtaking were all words used to describe 2008’s
Polar Life, an album that intrigued listeners in search of something they could truly get lost in. Its simple but mesmerizing formula was the work of artists with true ambition; artists who were in tune with their own dreams as much as the demands of their listeners. As could be expected,
Polar Life ended up being a rewarding and satisfying experience on both ends. The band’s newest effort follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, carrying its fans on a spiritual odyssey that will truly leave their heads in clouds of abstractness and their hearts in earthy fields of poetic aspiration.
One of
With Our Heads in the Clouds & Our Hearts in the Fields’ most enjoyable attributes is Adam Wiltzie’s awe-inspiring soundscapes, which seem to guide the course for Chantal Acda’s entrancing vocals. The songs are mostly piano driven, with an ice-tinged feel that give the record a lifeless, detached feeling. Occasionally strings, horns, synthesizers, and other accessories are added into the mix to achieve a heightened sense of emotion. However, it is this keyboard-driven ambience that defines
With Our Heads in the Clouds, much like it did
Polar Life a few years back. The soft, supple arrangements and electronic inclusions contribute to a natural flow within the album that makes it quite the cohesive work – with nary a forced or artificial moment to break up the magic created by string after string of beautiful, almost celestial, atmospheres. Despite
With Our Heads in the Clouds’ capabilities to contain a vast scope within itself, its overall sound achieves intimacy rather than expansiveness. By utilizing a minimalist approach to achieve a sense of calm still, the album is strikingly reminiscent of an afternoon spent lazily staring out the window while droplets of water collect on the outside edge of the sill. Strictly from an instrumental perspective, one might compare this album’s soundscape to Sigur Ros, with tracks like the opening ‘Untitled Ballad of You and Me’ showing us what would happen if
( )’s ‘Untitled 3’ was toned down and given vocals to add (or take away, depending on your perspective) from the song’s emotional impact. From front to back, though,
With Our Heads in the Clouds & Our Hearts in the Fields is an album of riveting instrumental arrangements and emotionally charged atmospheres.
Chantal Acda’s vocal contributions are no small triumph either, serving as both a means for the listener to relate lyrically to the music as well as providing angelic melodies that permeate Wiltzie’s already poignant soundscapes. The breathy, optimistic ‘It Leaves Us Silent’ is a prime example of Acda’s ability to take a simple instrumental foundation and turn it into a haunting masterpiece. The closing ‘Scary Movie’ offers up a spacey atmosphere that gives Chantal plenty of room to work with, as she gives one of her most impressive vocal performances to date. The gentle caress of her voice ends the album on an impressive note - even though its downtrodden, depressing aura may leave you feeling shattered instead of elated. As a whole, Sleepingdog once again manages to intertwine Acda’s vocals with a wealth of stunning soundscapes that make
With Our Heads in the Clouds & Our Hearts in the Fields an album worthy of both critical and fan-based acclaim. The album is not a very far walk away from
Polar Life, which may disappoint those who were hoping for a departure that was equally as brilliant. Sure, there are some minor tweaks – notably the drop in aura to something less uplifting and more brooding/serious – but for the most part Sleepingdog holds their course steady. Despite this minor complaint, it is difficult to find fault with what the band has created here. It may be similar stylistically, but that doesn’t make it any less captivating to the ears that it will so effortlessly grace. With their latest LP, Sleepingdog has once again created an album that will haunt our ears, engage our minds, and ultimately embrace our hearts.
