This Australian instrumental post-rock band has carved out a reputation for their music and also for their extensive touring and appearances at festivals across the world. I am familiar with the band’s 2017 album “Made of Breath Only”, since when they’ve released another album and appropriately enough a live album. That was pretty decent and certainly technically adept. The thing I find with instrumental bands in general is not that there’s something missing about having no vocals, in fact they can be a distraction, but that in order to make an impact, bands have to be big and clear in their expression so that our imagination is captured and from that the music presents interesting images.

sleepmakeswaves are soon into their stride with the funky and colourful soundscape of “All Hail Skull”. It’s one of those soundscapes where you can imagine a screen with a drone taking shots of a flight over land, and clouds passing through rapidly as the journey progresses – quite a common journey at live performances, so I was intrigued to see where this was going to go. Electronic waves and sharp drumming lead us into “Super Realm Park”. The hard rock guitar and post-rock percussion takes it above the level of soundtrack music, which to some extent this is. Again it’s a colourful journey with plenty of breadth and energy. Midway there’s a break and pause for cosmic reflection before the anticipated explosion and post-rock ascendancy. “Ritual Control” combines the journey with a burst of old school fuzz. It’s ok but not ground-breaking. The mellow acoustic start to “Black Paradise” reminded me a lot of Steven Wilson’s Blackfield project. It has a flowing dreamy melancholy about it. I really enjoyed this one. This album is not violent in any way but this is emphatically calm.

“Verdigris” has a deeper, more symphonic sound. It’s a strange follow up to “Black Paradise” as we go from one ambient interlude to another but in a different style. It seems a strange choice of ordering. “Terror Future” takes us back to the sphere of theme tune style, progressively orientated post-rock. Is that voices I hear? The chorus, if that’s what it is, is a series of mysterious sounds which blend in nicely. Actual lyrics then emerge in a quiet way behind the punchy instrumentals. It all ends with a prog-style burst of activity. It’s an interesting track which didn’t quite work for me. Next comes the title track. This has an acoustic beginning and a sad but powerful atmosphere which is similar to “Black Paradise” before it. It’s a track to wallow in. The sound becomes bigger and the familiar post-rock ring features towards the end, but this song has great balance and delicacy. Strangely the ambience of “It’s here but I have no names for it” reminds me of the Anathema album with a similar title “We’re Here Because We’re Here”. “This Close Forever” is interesting. The sound resembles that of a dulcimer. This song starts as another calm summer’s day before stepping up and repeating the refrain more heavily with a technical drum sound and post-rock intensity. This, the final track, showcases what sleepmakeswaves can do.

I detected boldness of the part of sleepmakeswaves here but there was something missing in the continuity. Different styles and moods are good if the order is right but I found this album lopsided. Having said this, sleepmakeswaves are craftsmen not only in the field of progressive-rock but also as they demonstrate here on “It’s here but I have no names for it”, the creation of dreamy, melancholic moods is another powerful string to their bow. This album has many great qualities but what I found myself appreciating was great technicality and musical interpretation rather than the progression of a journey.

(6.5/10 Andrew Doherty)

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https://sleepmakeswaves.bandcamp.com/album/its-here-but-i-have-no-names-for-it