ALBUM REVIEW: What Tomorrow Brings – Arms And Sleepers
ARMS AND SLEEPERS exists currently as the creative pseudonym of artist and producer Mirza Ramic, having formerly existed as a duo also featuring Max Lewis. Born out of Boston, Massachusetts, and now based in Berlin, Germany, the project is a prolific one, having produced 13 LPs and 20 EPs, pulling influence from trip-hop, experimental hip-hop, and post-rock. Now, with Ramic as the sole creative mastermind of the project, ARMS AND SLEEPERS is ready to release its 14th LP, What Tomorrow Brings.
The album is constructed by Ramic as a reflection on his own past in the wake of contemporary events. In the early 1990s, Ramic was one of many forced to flee Bosnia as war erupted in the region; the conflict would end up costing Ramic’s father his life. As war broke out once more in Europe in 2022, this time between Ukraine and Russia, Ramic was forced to reflect on his own past, and come to terms with how significantly it had impacted his own life
It is truly impressive how much Ramic is able to convey with so little lyricism, mostly utilising a vast array of luscious electronic soundscapes layered with tripping rhythms. At times, the music is little more than ethereal ambience, and at others it feels like a cinematic soundtrack; it is all at once strange and disconcerting yet familiar and nostalgic. Ramic has intended this album as not just a look back at his childhood, but a dissection of the man he has become, and the man he could have been, and these intentions are frequently met.
Whether via the crushing, off-kilter nature of tracks such as Anaconda, the groove-laden and trip-hop focused affairs such as It’s Easy and My Home Is A Vessel Floating Through An Abstract Space Towards Ports Unknown, or perhaps even the pure, ethereal ambience of Gasp, Ramic manages to ensure that the listener is placed in a position of feeling like a stranger in a strange land; sonic allusions to familiar musical ideas come and go but never settle, the album always travelling forwards to some other point, keeping the listener captive.
Vocals do appear across the album, but always as either loose, vaguely comprehensible snippets, or as those of a guest vocalist, such as the particularly gorgeous work of Sofia Insua on the track Belfast. It is a haunting artistic choice, ensuring that it balances its dreamlike surrealism with a grounding human element; characters that have appeared within the past of Ramic, or perhaps even the thoughts of Ramic himself at various points of his youth, rising to the surface.
Perhaps the only major critique of the album is that the central story that inspires the record does not always translate in the music. Ramic has chosen to split the record up into four segments: ‘Innocence’, ‘Melancholy’, ‘Rupture’ and ‘Reflection’. This exists as a way of exploring the impact of the war through the eyes of Ramic both as a child and as an adult, and furthermore explore who Ramic is compared to who he intended to become. Unfortunately, whilst Ramic is successful in conveying sentiments of isolation, childhood innocence and loss, these specific segments are a little difficult to truly distinguish; whilst the music is enjoyable, it is difficult to ascertain whether a listener entering the record with no knowledge of its background would truly appreciate the artistic decisions, and understand the deeper concept.
Regardless, what Ramic has achieved here is still a marvellous exercise in telling stories via unconventional means. What Tomorrow Brings is constructed with a lot of heart, thought, and complexity, and this culminates in an experience that, at its best, is a beautifully evocative and touching rumination on the long lasting impact of war. That, in and of itself, is worth commendation.
Rating: 8/10
What Tomorrow Brings is set for release on March 1st via Pelagic Records.
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