Sleepy Sun – The Garage, London – 9/12/09
4/5
By: Chris O'Toole
Where were they that night, the people of London? South of the river watching Marilyn Manson go door-to-door trying to shock unsuspecting victims in the vicinity of Brixton Academy? On the river waiting for Placebo to play ‘Nancy Boy’ at the O2 Arena so they could go to the bar? Or even searching for Babylon at the Hammersmith Apollo with David Gray!? All those groups were playing that night, to thousands of people. They all have no excuse.
Wherever they were, the people of London were not at the Garage in prosperous Islington to enjoy one of the most refreshing, invigorating and momentous sets seen in the city for quite some time. Even the headline draw of J Mascis & the Fog – featuring the singer/songwriter of Dinosaur Jr fame – wasn’t enough to draw capacity crowd to the recently renovated venue. Perhaps they were disheartened by the new – predominately beige – décor. Perhaps it was the starling, and almost unbelievable, £3.80 a pint for tepid Carling. Whatever it was, it wasn’t the set from support act Sleepy Sun that kept them away.
The San Francisco sextet romped through their debut album – Embrace – even if there was nobody there to see it. Drawing from the heritage of their adopted home city – with touchstones in the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service – Sleepy Sun have the sounds to incorporate elements of heavier, but equally dynamic acts, such as Comets on Fire or Black Mountain. That said, there is also a quiet, enigmatic and almost pastoral influence to the Sleepy Sun sound – which has previously seen them support such indie luminaries as Fleet Foxes. It is the mixture of these two seemingly opposed opposites which gives the group their potent live presence; dispensing the crowd pleasing guitar riffage only after a wonderful, drug induced journey.
At the centre of proceedings is frontman Bret Constantino – alternately singing and blasting out shards of harmonica which would have made anybody from Bob Dylan to Jack White blush – but he was ably assisted by the supporting cast. Not least was singer Rachel Williams – formerly of Birds Fled from Me – who undoubtedly won over a host of new fans, not least among the male members of the modest crowd. Matt Holliman and Evan Reiss (guitar), Hubert Guy (bass), and Brian Tice (drums) and Jack Allen on bass completed the line up.
With only one album to draw from the set was familiar to anybody with their copy of Embrace – recently (re)released by All Tomorrow’s Parties in the UK. At the centre is ‘White Dove’, which meanders through several phases before embracing the sheer, unadulterated freak-out the crowd desperately craves. ‘Golden Artefact’ also proves a live treat, perhaps surprisingly given its more muted position on Embrace. After a half hour set – which slips past like sand through fingers – Sleepy Sun are all too quickly gone, leaving the devoted crowd in stunned adulation.
This could be a long and fantastic journey for a secret gem of a band – despite what Placebo might have to say.
Artists in this article: Sleepy Sun
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