<p><span><span>- When sleepmakeswaves announced they were releasing new music, it wasn’t a celebratory declaration, but a sombre one of determination. “A lot’s happened since our last release. It’s a crazier, darker world…” they began, adding “It’s damn hard keeping the artist ship afloat, when being an artist doesn’t mean what it used to.” This was in January, <em>before</em> the pandemic came in and more or less obliterated whatever plans any artist had for the future. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span><em>These Are Not Your Dreams</em> is an album, but it’s also the collective term for three distinct EPs which come together to form the album. This idea was to allow the band to push the music in different creative directions, with those ideas showcased together on an EP, without losing it in a muddle of a longer form release. With the album still incomplete when the pandemic hit, however, it has also meant that the record showcases not just three distinct creative pushes, but the influence of three different time periods on those creative pushes. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The first EP, <em>No Safe Place</em>, was released in February, and is the same sound we’ve heard from sleepmakeswaves since the beginning: big, expansive drums, huge dynamic range, intricate guitar work; it’s the logical continuation from 2017’s <em>Made Of Breath Only</em>. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>The second EP, <em>Out Of Hours</em>, takes a different course from the moment it starts though, taking cues from '90s influences like emo and post-hardcore. Aurally it doesn’t have quite the same dynamics or fidelity, but it’s comforting to know this is deliberate and- given the band did everything themselves across the whole trilogy- not the result of a new producer being brought in partway through. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>Oh and did I mention the singing? By this stage we’re having to deal with another way the world has changed: sleepmakeswaves are no longer a purely instrumental band. <em>Cascades</em> introduced it and <em>Zelda</em> ran away with it, but some of these songs have vocals. Not just howling, not just background voices, but honest-to-God lead vocals. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It’s the third EP, <em>Not An Exit</em>, where things really change though, and where this album really shines. This part of the record was unrecorded when the pandemic hit, and although the release schedule was put back when things first hit the fan in March, social distancing policies in New South Wales where the band reside meant they couldn’t come together to record the final EP. What they’ve produced instead is an EP recorded separately in remote home studios, and mixed together after the fact. This is hardly a new idea, many bands operate this way- boy-band from the internet <strong>BROCKHAMPTON</strong> probably being the best example- but it’s pretty unusual as far as post-rock goes. Goodbye drum kit, for a start. This EP is far more electronic and minimalist, simply because that’s what comes out when you pit creativity against the limitations of recording in 2020. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>But it’s brilliant! For a start, <em>…And So We Destroyed Everything</em> and <em>In Today Already Walks Tomorrow</em> both have quieter side Bs than side As, so the drop in volume at the tail of <em>These Are Not Your Dreams</em> is perfectly in keeping with previous sleepmakeswaves records. The electronics are also an evolutionary step from what came before on <em>Made Of Breath Only</em>. But most importantly, sleepmakeswaves are a band that have always been able to do quiet and emotional at the same time as intense, and <em>Not An Exit</em> is arguably the strongest EP of the trilogy, just not the loudest. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>In the original announcement in January the band said “Every song has been an experiment in how far we can push ourselves creatively and sonically… because what else is there?” Never mind since their last release, the world is a vastly different place since they made that announcement. The changing world hasn’t stopped sleepmakeswaves though, and <em>These Are Not Your Dreams</em> is musically and thematically strong and relevant for life in 2020 with no compromise or concession paid to the circumstances. </span></span></p>
<p><span><span>- Sam Gunders.</span></span></p>
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