Sleeper – The Modern Age //Gorsky Records// (Released 22nd March)

Description

£18.99 – Indies Only Cream Coloured Vinyl LP

£17.99 – Standard LP

On 22nd March 2019, Sleeper release their first album in 21 years, The Modern Age. It wasn’t meant to happen. In fact, the band had promised each other it never would. Sleeper enjoyed huge critical and commercial success in the mid-90s: achieving 8 Top 40 singles across 3 Top 10 albums with well over 1,000,000 sales.  Their music was characterized by astute, observational lyrics and big, hook driven melodies. Louise Wener was an iconic front-person, heading up a movement that brought women centre stage in guitar music.

Sleeper split in 1998 and walked purposely away from the limelight. Wener carved out a career as a successful novelist. Drummer Andy Maclure and guitarist John Stewart both became lecturers in music studies. Sleeper’s current line-up are joined by former Prodigy bassist Kieron Pepper.

“We had no plan to get back together. Sometimes life throws you a massive curve ball. You end up jumping off the cliff, just to see what it feels like” says Louise. The band spent summer 2018 recording The Modern Age with their long-time producer, Stephen Street – a relationship that clicked into place again right away. They tracked live at Metway studios in their adopted city of Brighton, before decamping to Street’s studio in West London to add the finishing touches.

The Modern Age is the outward looking sound of a band revitalized and refreshed. Covering subjects from motherhood and social media to personal loss and, inevitably, relationships. The Modern Age retains Sleeper’s classic pop sensibilities with a shiny, new, contemporary feel. The first single to be taken from the album is “Look At You Now”, initially it appears to be referencing Sleeper’s comeback, but it’s a protest song at heart: a howl for the politically homeless in a landscape where reasoned debate has given way to vitriol.

Tracklisting:

A1. Paradise Waiting

A2. Look At You Now

A3. The Sun Also Rises

A4. Dig

A5. The Modern Age

B1. Cellophane

B2. Car Into The Sea

B3. Blue Like You

B4. More Than I Do

B5. Big Black Sun