Buzzin Music

Sleepy Sun – Embrace – album review

Sleepy Sun: Embrace

There are a few things that will put you off Sleepy Sun. One, you might think they were Embrace. But they aren’t, they just named their record that, so that’s quite good. Two, they cite one of their influences as Black Sabbath. Luckily, this seems to be more about song structure and the expansiveness of their sound than the length and complexity of their guitar solos and their levels of distortion. Three, one of their members’ roles include, among others, ‘haberdashery and interpretive dance’.

It’s hard to justify this last one, as steeped in irony as it may be. Yet when hearing the sextet’s Embrace, it is easy to forget these PR sensationalisms. Sleepy Sun’s debut is full of understated yet powerful ballads. The incredible ‘Lord’ is more akin to the piano of Antony Hegarty than Black Sabbath. With Bret Constantino and Rachael Williams’ vocals smothered in reverb, they resonate over the laid back Americana on tracks like ‘Sleepy Son’.

Tracks like this are why Sleepy Sun is such a fitting name. Songs like ‘Golden Artifact’ are bathed in evening glory, basking in the cool evening glow. Nothing is urgent; nothing is forced, even on heavier songs like the opener ‘New Age’ and ‘White Dove’.

The album closes with Constantino and Williams performing a lovely country duet ‘Duet With The Northern Sky’. It is a fitting end, for it is in these moments of glorious, understated tracks, rooted in the American traditions that Embrace finds itself most successful.

Sleepy Sun hail from Santa Cruz, but relocated to San Francisco for the city life. They recently opened for the psych legend Rodriguez at the Great American Music Hall. Embrace was recorded in Vancouver in January 2008 and incorporates some of the San Francisco West Coast psychadelia from their time there.

Have a listen to them on their MySpace. Embrace is available on ATP Recordings.