sleepmakeswaves – '(hello) cloud mountain' (video)

Let’s get one thing straight – post rock isn’t elevator music. Sure, some of it’s a little winding & pretentious and there are usually far too many words in post-rock band names (as well as grammatical confusion), but as a style it’s enthralling, interesting and often confronting – when done well.

Thankfully for the Australian post-rock scene, sleepmakeswaves do it well (and in less than 140 characters). (hello) cloud mountain is off their new album, and comes pre-packaged in a beautiful film clip, laden with tidy visual metaphors. It was directed/filmed/edited by Frederick Lloyd, a 20 year old Brit doing amazing things with a camera.  The track itself manages to pull off the epic feel of post-rock without the epic lengths – at just over three minutes, it’s a long step from some other opus’. If I was going to dive into clichés, I’d use words like “sweeping sound-scapes”, “delicate” and “multi-instrumental aural experience, filled with dreams of home and lost love” – but since it’s Tuesday, I’m not going to do that. Instead you get one of the best pieces of post-rock that I’ve ever heard come out of Australia.

If you haven’t listened to much (or any) post-rock, sleepmakeswaves are a great starting point. If you listen to a lot, their new album …and so we destroyed everything is available right now on bandcamp, and well worth the $12-something.

Check out their FB for more details on their (very fast approaching) shows. I know I’ll be there.

Oh and also, if you haven’t already – make the video huge, crank your speakers, and chill. It’s worth it.