EP REVIEW: Lakes In Which To Drown In – Sleep Outside
Following on from their 2021 debut EP This Won’t Ever Last, SLEEP OUTSIDE return with their follow-up Lakes In Which To Drown In. Whilst the title might sound a bit morbid, this new EP from the Welsh emotionally driven rock trio – guitarist/vocalist Adam Holborn, bassist/vocalist Olly Taki, and drummer Matt E Williams – is brutally honest. It covers everything from loss to struggling with your identity, and whilst their previous EP earned them considerable praise already, this one could catapult them into the mainstream of rock and emo.
The EP opens with I’d Give You The World If It Meant It Might Swallow Me Whole, and its minute-and-a-half runtime is a great introduction to the record. The acoustic guitar smoothly transitions into an electric guitar, and the vocals are awe-inspiring as they rise with the music. Sick follows which was originally an acoustic demo, but here it’s been given a face-lift and turned into a guitar-driven rock song. Whilst the vocals are sometimes a touch overwhelmed by the instruments, especially during the pre-chorus and the chorus, this is fixed during the last third of the song. It might come a little too late, but it is a welcome remedy.
Math Rock Millionaire and Spider deal with selling out and day-to-day anxiety. Both are grungy rock tracks, and thankfully the vocals are not drowned out by the instruments this time. Spider even flirts briefly with vocal distortion during the chorus to add an exciting hint at the future of the band. Despite most of the tracks here being quite fast, they are all around the three-minute mark, which gives each one enough time to make an impact on the listener. Even the slower songs, such as Awen and the aforementioned opener don’t throw things off, as the faster tracks in between them break things up.
The record closes with the title track, which starts off with distorted echoed vocals before launching into the rest of the song. At four and a half minutes, it is the longest song on the EP and as such it covers the most ground. There’s a fast-paced section, a mid-tempo section and an acoustic section, and on the one hand it is great to see the band experimenting, but on the other the instrumental passages do take up a lot of the runtime, and by the end it does feel a bit monotone. The acoustic section builds up and ends up feeling a bit anti-climactic as it doesn’t lead into a big rock finale. However, maybe that was the point; it is clear that SLEEP OUTSIDE are subverting expectations.
Ultimately, Lakes In Which To Drown In is a splendid EP that – mostly – hits all the right notes. Whilst SLEEP OUTSIDE are a newer band, it is clear that they have established themselves as an excellent emo-rock outfit. The EP makes sure that all the songs have their time to shine, and it is a solid and fantastic follow-up from a band who have a very bright future indeed.
Rating: 8/10
Lakes In Which To Drown In is set for release on November 1st via Best Life Records.
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