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For their first Frenchkiss release, Brooklyn’s The Big Sleep decided to scale back their sound a bit. Where once there were enormous swells of feedback and fuzz to fill in what their already monstrous sound didn’t cover, there are now silences and spaces that the songs sit comfortably on. Since so many bands these days are trying to achieve a sound too big for their own good (and probably ours too), it’s nice to see a three-piece following the old adage “less is more” and creating a focused set of brain-melting rock tracks that sound like a living, breathing band and not simply a studio project. Sleep Forever finds the trio co-producing with Chris Coady, who brings to the table the same talents he once brought to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ previous work. As you’d expect, The Big Sleep’s sonic assault really slams through your speakers. That is, unless they’re showing off their gentler side with sparse tracks like ‘Chorus of Guitars,’ which, take it from us, is anything but.
