by Mykhailo Vil’yamson
When does an explosive become a drug? Scientifically, this happened with nitroglycerin – that highly volatile chemical compound that is used to both produce dynamite and treat heart conditions. But I would also contend that a similar power and instability is found in emogaze, and I’m addicted. The latest release in this subgenre is the three-song EP Seeds by Winnipeg locals Guilty Sleep (a.k.a. Eric, Haise, Nic, Liam, Los), which is their follow-up to last year’s Passenger. And it’s equally heartbreaking and vicariously curative.
Sound-wise, this project feels to me like a combination of Starflyer 59’s 1994 album Silver, the mid-aughts “Lazy Eye” by Silversun Pickups, and something of that post-modern Winnipeg’s je ne sais quoi. It’s heavy emotionally and sonically, introspectively cathartic in its bleeding honesty. Starting out dream-like, the echoey guitar opening of “Sleeve” hardens quickly and progressively – broken phrases of regret, punctuated by exasperated breathing and coupled with the repeated line: “I guess you never knew what to say to me.” The song ends with a military-like beat that, in light of earlier lyrics, “I wipe you off on my sleeve,” conveys a moving on. But the effect of past sorrow is ever-present, as also suggested by the final oscillating hum of enduring hurt. This leads into the “Waltz for Fallen Lovers”: a shoegaze-forward track that actually includes a brief 3/4 time signature change and leans austerely into the theme of relationships being blown to smithereens. As for the closing song, “Meal Replacement” – which begins with an airy drum machine loop – it is the third in Guilty Sleep’s successful trifecta of woe, which is Seeds. Just when you think that it couldn’t get any more dreary, the listener feels the impact of words like, “I inhale to clear my head / Promise this breath will be my last / But I always gasp for air,” and the five-times-reiterated sentiment of being “alone.”
It’s potent heart medicine, this EP. But handle with care. Rumour has it that they’re likely to explode on a stage near you (like at the Rainbow Trout Festival this August).