Sleeping at Last - Yearbook EPs

[murlough23]

I know a few of us have been listening to SAL's monthly installments of new songs as they come out, but other than general acknowledgement that they've been doing a pretty good job, I haven't seen a whole lot of discussion of the project, outside of my raving about it, anyway. So I figured it deserved a thread, especially since I'm starting to review the EPs one by one.

Here are my detailed takes on the first two EPs:
October
November

What are your thoughts on the process so far? Favorite EPs? (Mine is either January or February.) Favorite songs? (In my case, "Next to Me" and "Land or Sea".) Any missteps? Think they can sustain this pace for another six months?

[bloop]

Much of it is pretty in a way that is blending together with me so far, so it's hard to pick favorites. The project is absolutely beautiful, but a little samey to me, but I'll say January is the one I most gravitate toward so far. I'm waiting until I've heard them all to rate and add them.

[ajyouthguy]

someone was asking me about this the other day on facebook.  i think i need to go back and listen to them either all together, or at least in like 3 month chunks, to fully get a read on them.  the 3 song things are nice, but hard for me to relay exact thoughts on for some reason.  don't get me wrong, i like them a lot, i just think i need to listen to them in bigger chunks or something so i can get a better read and take on them.

[ewok20t3]

I've listened to the most recent EP and one other one, and they sound nice. I've not heard anything that has convinced me that I need to buy it, nor do I have any complaints. Sleeping At Last has always been a band that I'm surprised I'm not more of a fan of. There's no doubt that they're a solid band, and the style of music they play is generally one that I find appealing, but I just haven't found that connection that I like to have with bands of this sort.

[murlough23]

Much of it is pretty in a way that is blending together with me so far, so it's hard to pick favorites. The project is absolutely beautiful, but a little samey to me, but I'll say January is the one I most gravitate toward so far. I'm waiting until I've heard them all to rate and add them.

That's a common problem that I have with SAL, and it's why I took a while to make the leap from liking them well enough to fully loving the band. Their overall style is subdued enough that it takes repeated listens and a bit of digging into the lyrics to differentiate between the songs, apart from the obvious (and usually up-tempo) highlights.

January is the one EP where I feel like all three tracks deviate from the core SAL sound in some significant way, so I'm not surprised that it stands out to you the most. It's the one that I was the most immediately impressed with as well, though the songwriting on February may be stronger. (Not entirely fair, because one track on January doesn't have lyrics, nor does it need them in order to be thoroughly breathtaking.)

i think i need to go back and listen to them either all together, or at least in like 3 month chunks, to fully get a read on them.  the 3 song things are nice, but hard for me to relay exact thoughts on for some reason.

The distinction between one month and the next can probably seem a bit arbitrary if each EP isn't listened to when it's new. (In other words, you could go through a few months at a time without noticing a really obvious break or shift in style between them.) Reviewing each EP individually is a bit weird to me, since I find myself searching for things to say collectively about a group of somewhat disparate songs when it's easier to just dive in and discuss the individual songs. But for me personally, taking in too much new SAL music at once can make a lot of it run together, so I'm finding that I prefer hearing new stuff from them in tiny installments (at least in this case, knowing it's part of a thematic project rather than just randomly tossing out a few songs now and then). Keep No Score and especially Storyboards took a really long time for me to absorb because of their much mellower tone after Ghosts, which was a largely mid-tempo album to begin with.

Sleeping At Last has always been a band that I'm surprised I'm not more of a fan of. There's no doubt that they're a solid band, and the style of music they play is generally one that I find appealing, but I just haven't found that connection that I like to have with bands of this sort.

I sort of felt that way about them at first. I believe it was Andree or someone else at the Phorum who first strongly suggested that I was in error for having completely missed the boat by not including SAL in my Best of 2003 list (I didn't even hear any of their stuff until his prompting in January of '04). When it feels like I'm expected to like something, it can take me longer to warm up to it, paradoxically. I think it's a very personal thing with this band - the music is usually pleasant but doesn't impress me right away on most of their songs, and it's when I discover an emotional connection to the lyrics that songs which once seemed par for the course start to feel a whole lot more special. I can see how others would react with indifference or just mild enjoyment to some of the same material.

I think the EPs have been appearing on iTunes at roughly the ides of each month, so it may be possible to buy individual tracks that stand out to you, if the EPs in full aren't grabbing your attention.

[murlough23]

Two more reviews:

December
January

[murlough23]

And two more to catch us up to the present:

February
March

[murlough23]

My review of April. I'm a bit disappointed.

[ewok20t3]

I listened to Ghosts again the other day and I noticed that it's growing on me with each listen. I've still only heard two months of the Yearbook EPs. I may get around to checking out the others eventually.

[murlough23]

I listened to Ghosts again the other day and I noticed that it's growing on me with each listen.

That's how it had to work for me. It all kind of mushed together in my mind at first. Then I started noticing how well-written it was, which in turn focused my attention on specific songs that I thought set those lyrics best to the music.

Going from Ghosts to Yearbook has got to be one hell of a leap, though.

[ewok20t3]

That's how it had to work for me. It all kind of mushed together in my mind at first. Then I started noticing how well-written it was, which in turn focused my attention on specific songs that I thought set those lyrics best to the music.

Going from Ghosts to Yearbook has got to be one hell of a leap, though.

I have Storyboards, too. Should I listen to it for awhile before I start on Yearbook?

[murlough23]

I have Storyboards, too. Should I listen to it for awhile before I start on Yearbook?

Well, you're already aware of the transition away from indie rock and toward more of an acoustic/baroque pop sort of approach, so I figure you're not going into Yearbook expecting it to be something it's not. Storyboards is definitely worth a listen, though it does have its moments where it drags a bit. It probably took the longest of any of their records for me to fully appreciate.

Keep No Score is a good transitional record. It's my favorite of their three full-lengths.

[bloop]

I'm still partial toward Ghosts, but that may be more nostalgia than anything else. Everything thereafter has been a worthy followup.

[murlough23]

I'm still partial toward Ghosts, but that may be more nostalgia than anything else. Everything thereafter has been a worthy followup.

Quality-wise, all three of their albums are pretty much equal - strong songwriting, tasteful musicianship. Keep No Score might edge out the others in my book due to nostalgia as well (I was first digesting it during one of my favorite vacations, and "Umbrellas" has become my favorite song of theirs, probably even making my short list for favorite love songs of all time). But it'd be splitting hairs to argue over which album of theirs was the "best". Yearbook has generally been maintaining that same level of quality thus far, so this group has earned my trust even if they do stumble occasionally.

[bloop]

tasteful musicianship.

Yeah, this is both one of their greatest assets and one of the only frustrating things about this band. They've seemed like they could ambitiously go for the throat, on the edge of doing so, but they haven't really, generally opting instead for simple, often understated beauty.

[murlough23]

They've seemed like they could ambitiously go for the throat, on the edge of doing so, but they haven't really, generally opting instead for simple, often understated beauty.

I think the understated beauty thing is what they genuinely enjoy doing, though. Within that, I feel like they've found a lot of different ways to stretch themselves. (Building an entire song around a van Dyke Parks string arrangement, constructing one entirely on their iPhones, etc.) I'm not sure what "going for the throat" would sound like for them, but I just don't think an overly aggressive or alienated approach would sound genuine coming from them. I get that this isn't going to place them on the bleeding edge of the list of bands that Pitchfork is gonna rave about, but I'm OK with that.

[bloop]

I just fear that the approach may get old. One blogger described it as watching sunset after sunset. It's always going to be pretty, but that sort of samey-ness isn't going to hold attention forever. So, yeah, I want them to branch out, not for Pitchfork's sake (are they even on their radar?), but for mine - and obviously in a way that feels genuine and doesn't forget what they've already mastered.

[murlough23]

I just think fear that the approach may get old. One blogger described it as watching sunset after sunset. It's always going to be pretty, but that sort of samey-ness isn't going to hold attention forever. So, yeah, I want them to branch out, not for Pitchfork's sake (are they even on their radar?), but for mine - and obviously in a way that feels genuine and doesn't forget what they've already mastered.

I guess I feel like they've already started to do that on some of the Yearbook material. It does run the risk of getting old if they retreat to their core sound song after song, but part of the fun of breaking out of the album format is that they get to throw in odd songs that don't fit the formula (which I hope will translate back to their next regular full-length LP if they decide to go that route again). I did note that some of the stuff on March and April didn't feel as special as the previous EPs because it didn't seem to blur the boundaries as much.

To be fair, though, for most bands, a new album is the product of several months' work (if not a year or more), and we're lucky if a handful of the songs stretch their boundaries. For a really good band putting out an album that shows convincing growth all the way through, they've probably culled the best 10-12 songs out of God knows how many, and a lot of those rejected songs may have just been the band doing what it does well without stretching their boundaries. (Or the other way around, an experiment so odd it just plain didn't work). So for Sleeping at Last to record and release three albums' worth of songs within a year probably means we're gonna see a lot of examples of them simply doing their status quo really well. When all is said and done, if you were to cull the 12 best songs from the project and release it as a traditional album, the end result would feel like they'd broken a lot of new ground since Storyboards. If the fall-back position for the 24 B-sides was simply that they were all a bunch of really pretty songs that were closer to formula, that's probably better on average than what most bands throw away.

(I really do think they should compile and release the best songs when all is said and done. $30 for 36 songs is great for the diehards, but too steep for casual, curious listeners. And $3 for any one EP doesn't really paint a good picture of the project overall. $10 or $12 for a good overview of the entire project seems reasonable for those on an entry level - kind of like what Jon Foreman did when his solo EPs were finished. Agreeing on which 12 tracks should make the cut would be a tough call, but polling fans couldn't hurt. Or just picking the band's personal favorite from each of the 12 EPs or something.)

[bloop]

I guess I feel like they've already started to do that on some of the Yearbook material.

Yes, but sonically, it just seems a bit slight and modest I guess.

[murlough23]

Yes, but sonically, it just seems a bit slight and modest I guess.

I like that it's modest. It feels more like they're enjoying the exploration and less like they have something to prove to people (which can be a trap other bands fall into when they attempt radical sonic changes - sounding more like they want to impress the tough sell critics, or some segment of the audience, than like they're truly making the kind of art they enjoy making).

Subtle changes over time are enough to keep my interest in a band, I think. I'm not opposed to radical changes, since I've heard them done well before, but they need to be approached very carefully, and after a long hard look at one's motivations for doing so. I don't require this of every artist, and in fact, I would get frustrated if every artist whose sound I enjoyed the way it was (and felt was fairly unique) started to veer away from that sound.

[bloop]

Eh, I appreciate a little fire in the belly.

Note, though, that Yearbook is not faring poorly with me at all on the journal.

[murlough23]

Eh, I appreciate a little fire in the belly.

That's fine. You still seem to like SAL for what they are, even if you feel they could do more. I don't expect to make them one of your absolute all-time favorites or anything.

[murlough23]

May is sounding like it swings back to a much more eclectic approach. I enjoy that side of SAL a great deal.

[bloop]

Yeah, I'm loading it up on my iPod now.

[murlough23]

My May review:

http://www.epinions.com/content_551433703044

[murlough23]

My June review:

http://www.epinions.com/content_554832793220

[ewok20t3]

This is kind of off topic, but I found a Sleeping At Last promotional poster for Ghosts for one dollar yesterday. Snatched it up to hang in my music room (Along with 15 other band posters). 

[murlough23]

The July EP (which got released literally hours after Ryan O'Neal became well enough to finish up the vocals after being sick for the latter part of June) is another pleasant surprise, considering that SAL is now essentially a solo act - it's the most rocky and upbeat of the Yearbook EPs thus far. Recruiting Jacob Marshall and Mark Padgett (drummer and bassist from Mae) for a track certainly didn't hurt - SAL hasn't sounded like this since Keep No Score.

Also, as a Portal fan, I'm amused that there's a track named "Aperture".

[ewok20t3]

Recruiting Jacob Marshall and Mark Padgett (drummer and bassist from Mae) for a track certainly didn't hurt

I listened to that track and liked it quite a bit. Maybe I'll listen to the rest of the EP soon.

[murlough23]

My review of July:

http://www.epinions.com/content_558186532484

[murlough23]

My review of August:

http://www.epinions.com/content_561103277700

[bloop]

I'm still enjoying the songs, but I'm not sure I really buy it as a concept, but more like a central conceit. I'm struggling with that a little - with the exception of a few obvious songs (particularly in the winter months), I'm not catching where it has much connection to the purported theme.

If I listen to it as just a series of EPs that happen to coincide with the month of release, though, I'm fine with them. There's still a certain saminess to the project, and it lacks that sense of artistic danger that would put it over the top with me, but I like beautiful well-written songs, too.

[murlough23]

I'm still enjoying the songs, but I'm not sure I really buy it as a concept, but more like a central conceit. I'm struggling with that a little - with the exception of a few obvious songs (particularly in the winter months), I'm not catching where it has much connection to the purported theme.

With the exceptional of the few seasonal songs you mentioned, I don't really think the intent is to didactically describe each month of the year. It is very much a snapshot of what the songwriter was thinking and feeling each month (or I guess during the previous month). I don't necessarily listen to a July song and think, "Wow, this is EXACTLY what summer is all about!" That isn't really the point.

If I listen to it as just a series of EPs that happen to coincide with the month of release, though, I'm fine with them.

That's essentially what it was meant to be from the get-go. Sort of a songwriting challenge that we would get to watch unfold in real time. I was honestly skeptical at first and thought we'd get a lot of unfinished ideas and hurried demos. And I can see looking back where a few ideas might not have come to full completion. Still, I'm amazed that he's kept on schedule, particularly as it concerns deadlines earlier in the month where he had to be done writing and ready to record vocals and instruments, and send the final results off for mixing. I'm guessing that process normally takes more than the average of ~10 days per song that's been maintained here. Any consistency of quality here is an accomplishment in and of itself.

And despite the fact that it's all being done more or less on the fly, I do catch thematic connections in the lyrics that would seem to suggest a larger plan. I asked Ryan about a couple of those little Easter eggs on Facebook once, and he confirmed that I wasn't just making stuff up, and he was glad I took the time to notice.

There's still a certain saminess to the project, and it lacks that sense of artistic danger that would put it over the top with me, but I like beautiful well-written songs, too.

The saminess is largely confined to the ballads, I think; you either like the general sound and style or you don't. Those are the songs that tend to take me longer to appreciate. Among the more upbeat stuff and the instrumentals, I think SAL has showed surprising range here. Maybe it's because I've been reading the blogs and I know what went into making a lot of the songs. But still, I've been pleasantly surprised by so many of them at first listen without knowing the backstory, and this is coming from someone who thinks he knows each time what to expect. An artist just doing more of the same - especially on a deadline - wouldn't have brought in some of the collaborators and odd instruments that he did, or tried something as crazy as composing an entire song on a couple of iPhones.

I'll grant that the mood of it all is vaguely pleasant, and it can seem rather meek if one isn't following the lyrics closely. That's where I think SAL has always shined. (Shone?) I'll throw your critique a bone and say that for someone who writes quite a bit about risk and wanting God to push him beyond his comfort zone, the music often doesn't reflect that. I actually agree. A little "artistic danger" could help to drive those points home.

Still, we can't say he didn't take a lot of risks at the mere inception of the project, nor do I think we can say he's settled for the easy way out in making these EPs. Even the songs I don't really care for seem quite carefully, meticulously crafted. Maybe it's because I admire that and you prefer a little more "living on the edge" that demonstrates itself musically in more obvious ways, that we see it differently.

[bloop]

Yeah, I'm probably just expecting something, largely based on the title, that it was never intended to be. Still, I think it would have been better if it reached for the big concept , even in a weird "Our Town" sort of way. The danger of that is that it becomes contrived of course, though.

And despite the fact that it's all being done more or less on the fly, I do catch thematic connections in the lyrics that would seem to suggest a larger plan.

Expound. It may help me appreciate it more than I am. As it is, it's just really beautiful and generally agreeable in a classical sense, that way that SAL has always been.

quite carefully, meticulously crafted. Maybe it's because I admire that and you prefer a little more "living on the edge" that demonstrates itself musically in more obvious ways, that we see it differently.

Is "carefully, meticulously crafted" and "artfully on edge" mutually exclusive?

[murlough23]

Yeah, I'm probably just expecting something, largely based on the title, that it was never intended to be. Still, I think it would have been better if it reached for the big concept , even in a weird "Our Town" sort of way. The danger of that is that it becomes contrived of course, though.

Yeah. I'd love to see immediately how everything fits into the year-long framework, but I think they'd run the risk of being didactic if, say, April had to have an Easter song or whatever. I didn't worry too much about that sort of thing on the Jon Foreman EPs, so I'm not too concerned with it here. I'd actually go so far as to say that, based on the interesting selection of subjects for the cover paintings, sometimes the intent is to go out of the way to paint an unexpected image of that particular month. (It all makes sense in context from reading the blog, of course, but I don't think that knowledge is necessary to enjoy the music.)

Expectations are everything. Where you don't have an actual statement of intent from the artist, it's surprisingly easy to make one up based on titles or lyrics or even photos. Perhaps it's easier for me to identify because I follow SAL on Facebook, so I've been reading all about the project since it was first announced. And because there's a part of me that admires the consistency of a project like this that a lot of people would probably start, but run out of steam midway through and have it be subjected to a perpetual schedule slip.

Expound. It may help me appreciate it more than I am.

It's not really some big profound larger picture that will blow your mind. It's more about the little things - the title of one song cropping up in another, or subject matter from one song that another seems to follow up on. That's certainly all been done before, but I tend to admire that in the same way that I admire a TV series that things ahead enough to setup a hanging plot device now that they intend to give an interesting resolution to at a specific point down the line. Those connections in and of themselves are satisfying to me, because then I go back and listen to the older songs and they mean a little more.

As it is, it's just really beautiful and generally agreeable in a classical sense, that way that SAL has always been.

Honestly, I'm happy just with this. I don't feel the need to convince you it's pure genius if you're already saying it's good music that you enjoy.

Is "carefully, meticulously crafted" and "artfully and on edge" mutually exclusive?

Not necessarily. I guess I had this image in my mind of something more visceral, more spontaneous, more likely to baffle the audience. SAL seems more like the kind of band that delights in the little curiosities than the kind that actively wants to make their audience go "WTF?" Not that I don't enjoy the "WTF?" reaction I get from some other artists. It just doesn't seem like it would be true to SAL's personality. Maybe that's not the kind of "artistic danger" you meant?

I do think there's a lot of stuff where the idea behind it was relatively spontaneous (it kind of has to be due to the episodic nature and the short amount of development time), but it was still thought through and put together carefully between the genesis of the idea and the final product. Rather than just hitting "record" and committing to whatever the hell they got in just that one take. That sort of stuff tends to be more erratic by definition, which is totally where some artists thrive, so don't think I'm knocking it. This just isn't that kind of artist, I guess.

Perhaps it takes a little more understanding of what goes on behind-the-scenes to see where the "danger" is here.

[bloop]

Yeah, I read the facebook stuff too (though I'm pretty sure I started later), and I know it can't be easy to come up with 3 new songs every month, especially when one is too sick to lay down a vocal track. Even if it's something just this side of genius, it's something I can respect.

But, yeah, roughly right, mur. I like to be baffled and challenged, and I like watching other people baffled and challenged even more. 

[murlough23]

I know it can't be easy to come up with 3 new songs every month, especially when one is too sick to lay down a vocal track.

I still don't know how he pulled that off in time to get July out by the 1st of the month. In general even when there have been delays, it's only delayed things until later in the day when a midnight release was expected. Not a huge schedule slip in the grand scheme of things - I'd have understood being a few days behind here and there.

But, yeah, roughly right, mur. I like to be baffled and challenged, and I like watching other people baffled and challenged even more. 

I like watching you be baffled and challenged by me being baffled and challenged at something that you don't think is all that baffling and challenging.

[bloop]

I like watching you be baffled and challenged by me being baffled and challenged at something that you don't think is all that baffling and challenging.

Baffling.

[murlough23]

The last Yearbook EP has been delayed until September 7. Since it's the last one, I can understand wanting to take the extra time to get it right. Ryan didn't want deadline slips before that, so he was pretty strict about always releasing them on the 1st of the month, but it doesn't make me wonder if a few of the songs that feel more like sketches (particularly one or two of the instrumentals) would have turned out differently, if more time had been allotted.

[murlough23]

My review of September, the final EP in the series.

http://www.epinions.com/content_565095599748

I give the series overall an A-.