Album Review: sleepmakeswaves - Love Of Cartography

For eight years now, Sydneysiders sleepmakeswaves (yes that's right, there are no spaces or capital letters in their name) have been proving to their fans and the wider world that you don't need a lead singer to create thoughtful, heavy music. Through their instrumental pieces – call them songs at your peril – they create brooding soundscapes that conform neither to time signatures nor normal song structures.

"There's nothing wrong with appealing to a wider audience."

Love Of Cartography is their second record, following up their 2011 ARIA-nominated ...and so we destroyed everything. While fans of the first album will no doubt latch onto Love Of Cartography like limpets to a well worn rock, it represents a step back from the sprawling, ten-minutes-plus songs on their debut. Sure, with ten tracks spanning 55 minutes there's room for sleepmakeswaves to explore each piece on Love Of Cartography, but as a whole the album is slightly more accessible than ...and so we destroyed everything.

Some of that accessibility might come down to the partnership with producer Nick DiDia, whose work with Karnivool and Powderfinger among others has created seminal rock albums not out of place on FM radio. And while sleepmakeswaves might still be a fair distance from sitting on the Triple M high-rotation playlist, lead single, Something Like Avalanches is not the only track that situates the band a little bit closer to the mainstream.

There's nothing wrong with appealing to a wider audience, and if it helps that audience to discover the intelligent, challenging sound that sleepmakeswaves create, then it can only be a good thing.