Longwave - 'Daysleeper' (14th Floor)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Well, ten out of ten for bravery. Longwave, as you may well know, are usually categorised as the type of 'friends of The Strokes' New York guitar band that, in the current climate, you could claim are ten a penny. Not exactly the kind of outfit you'd expect to release an entirely instrumental single with nods towards Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Tortoise, then. But, blissfully, that's exactly what 'Daysleeper' is.
It's quite a way to break free from such lazy categorisation. This, the closing-track from their current album 'The Strangest Things', is indeed a bizarre choice of single considering their usual panache for simple, rollicking rock-tunes. But we're not just praising their gallantry for doing something unexpected - oh no; 'Daysleeper' is a fine piece of work no matter who the creator - all brooding ambience and twinkling guitars over an almost industrial drum-loop.
You'll have a hard time trying to figure out why a band on the brink of greatness would release something so unlikely to get any airplay or even sell many copies. Perhaps it's a sly joke, but in a selfish way, something about 'Daysleeper' is made even better by the fact that you'll be lucky to hear it anywhere.
Artists in this article: Longwave
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