Dear listener, for a truly immersive and cinematic experience with music, you’ve got to look at bands that were directly influenced by film soundtracks. Quite similar to the immortal works of Portishead, the Dublin-based Sleep Thieves originally established their style by bonding over their love of music from classic cinema. This is also one of those groups that kind of unceremoniously disappeared in the 2010’s despite lots of clear potential. So even though they managed to fade away like tears in a torrential downpour, the quality of their work is on par with a David Lynch film in terms of artistic expressionism, dreaminess, tone and experimentation. What they bring to the table is probably ‘too-niche’ for most, but it’s also too good to just sweep under the rug. Just above is Is This Ready? from their 2018 EP Fortress. Join me just below for more details and melodic mindfuckery.
The Sleep Thieves are one of those rather small-time international groups that I invariably have some trouble locating information on. The clearest and quickest way that I could describe their music is synth-pop with a menacing twist. It’s electronically based with a lot of dark and dreamy soundscapes. Considering all the haunting themes I suppose you could just call their catalog a pool of deep dark indie. You could potentially dance to a lot of it if the mood strikes, but I tend to come back to tunes by this group when I’m driving home late at night, or driving through a city at night, as their songs match both ambiances with a scary level of atmospheric precision. Listening to their catalog kind of makes you feel like you’re a character in a movie story, and I don’t know too many other acts that can capture that kind of lightning in a bottle as consistently as this Ireland-based trio does. After meeting on social media and agreeing to record together, ST spent a full year fine-tuning their sound and it reflects in the overall structure and quality. If you’re a fan of film noir, you’ll find yourself right at home with their brand of noir-discotheque which manages to soothe just as much as it unsettles. Their lead vocalist, Sorcha Brennan, must be given props for her impressive high-and-low range which is just dynamic enough to make for a fully hypnotic storytelling experience. This is a rare group that intentionally seeks to make the listener a bit uncomfortable, and if you’re anything like me it may bring up memories or emotions that you’d probably prefer to remain buried somewhere in your subconscious. But just like quality art, quality audio should mesmerize you and make you feel something haunting irrespective of the theme. I don’t expect to hear anything new from them in the future, I’d definitely recommend digging into their limited catalog for more. Just below is You Want the Night from their 2014 album of the same name. Smash play, enjoy and plenty more obscure music is on the way in 25’!
The two tracks I’ve posted above are probably some of the most hyper-niche compositions I’ve installed on this page, and I must admit it’s not stuff that I can listen to ALL THE TIME. However, there really was something special about ST’s contributions to the world of music that, to me, make them uniquely memorable. Image source: Minty Fresh : Video - City of Hearts
