Sometimes less can be more. To truly appreciate the beauty of something it’s worth dismantling it and stripping it bare, facet by facet. It’s an operation put into practice by English musician Max Holder a.k.a. Sleep Cycles. His recent release, Hibernation, is a generous 8 song E.P recorded entirely in his bedroom. Bedroom artists have the increasingly vast selection of home music production programs to thank and over the years it’s become a widely used method of making music, especially for newer musicians and artists without the backing of a big label. The tracks on Hibernation were, according to Sleep Cycles, recorded ‘on the edge of my bed’. Each song features little more than a voice and an acoustic guitar, with the odd sprinkle of electronics thrown in.
The introductory ambience of opening track “Cafe Waltz” is masked by the grainy, lo-fi recording quality used throughout the whole E.P. A keyboard melody and what sounds like the repetitive bounce of a basketball is accompanied by Sleep Cycles who tells us we look like we’ve ‘seen a ghost’. It’s perhaps more accurate to say we’ve just heard one, considering Sleep Cycles’ haunting, neither here nor there vocal style. It has that similar note of fragility as fellow UK vocalists Ben Howard and Damien Rice, to name a few. To be honest though it goes well with the grainy music style, a voice more bombastic wouldn’t fit right with the ambient sound that Sleep Cycles is trying to achieve. The song actually becomes quite full of life when the picked guitar melody joins in. Credit must go to Sleep Cycles for making something so jaunty with so few materials.
“Get Sleep” is carried by a lovely little picked guitar section. Following track “Flinch” is as low quality as you could probably go, featuring nothing more but a guitar, the sound of rain and a spoken word which sounds like it was recorded underwater. Indeed, such is the quality of the recording that it’s impossible to make out what’s being said..
“Just a Couple” is a track I’ve grown to like with each listen, probably even my favourite track from the Hibernation It doesn’t do anything too different, but the parts seem to collate with such ease and the resulting song carries a spring in it’s step. “Learning To Whistle” is opening literally with the sound of whistling, before a palm muted guitar intro leads into the full track.
One thing to note in Hibernation is that even with it’s minimalist nature, the guitar playing is still very good. The centerpiece of the E.P is its guitar and in most songs it’s a nice sounding plucked style that’s very easy on the ear. Hibernation closes with “It’s Giving Me a Headache,” which opens with the jumble of what sounds like a guitar being placed on a lap. The vocals are more of a howl here, which is stark contrast to the soft singing style of previous tracks. It isn’t unpleasant though and accompanies the backing guitar melody nicely.
There’s very little to Hibernation and I say that in a positive sense because Sleep Cycle pulls it off well. It’s very easy to get lost in the overall ambience and at times you’ll find your imagination filling in any of the gaps. Hibernation is the equivalent of a man eating a sandwich in the park, there’s little more there than there needs to be. It’s not an E.P to be enjoyed in a busy schedule, but one that is most rewarding when you have the time to truly take it in.
Rating: 4/5
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