{"id":12719,"date":"2024-08-06T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-06T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=12719"},"modified":"2026-05-07T19:31:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:31:50","slug":"album-review-guilty-sleep-seeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2024\/08\/06\/album-review-guilty-sleep-seeds\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review :: Guilty Sleep :: Seeds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"blury<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

by Mykhailo Vil\u2019yamson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When does an explosive become a drug? Scientifically, this happened with nitroglycerin \u2013 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\u2019m addicted. The latest release in this subgenre is the three-song EP Seeds<\/em> by Winnipeg locals Guilty Sleep (a.k.a. Eric, Haise, Nic, Liam, Los), which is their follow-up to last year\u2019s Passenger<\/em>. And it\u2019s equally heartbreaking and vicariously curative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Sound-wise, this project feels to me like a combination of Starflyer 59\u2019s 1994 album Silver<\/em>, the mid-aughts \u201cLazy Eye\u201d by Silversun Pickups, and something of that post-modern Winnipeg\u2019s je ne sais quoi. It\u2019s heavy emotionally and sonically, introspectively cathartic in its bleeding honesty. Starting out dream-like, the echoey guitar opening of \u201cSleeve\u201d hardens quickly and progressively \u2013 broken phrases of regret, punctuated by exasperated breathing and coupled with the repeated line: \u201cI guess you never knew what to say to me.\u201d The song ends with a military-like beat that, in light of earlier lyrics, \u201cI wipe you off on my sleeve,\u201d 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 \u201cWaltz for Fallen Lovers\u201d: 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, \u201cMeal Replacement\u201d \u2013 which begins with an airy drum machine loop \u2013 it is the third in Guilty Sleep\u2019s successful trifecta of woe, which is Seeds<\/em>. Just when you think that it couldn\u2019t get any more dreary, the listener feels the impact of words like, \u201cI inhale to clear my head \/ Promise this breath will be my last \/ But I always gasp for air,\u201d and the five-times-reiterated sentiment of being \u201calone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s potent heart medicine, this EP. But handle with care. Rumour has it that they\u2019re likely to explode on a stage near you (like at the Rainbow Trout Festival this August).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mykhailo Vil\u2019yamson When does an explosive become a drug? Scientifically, this happened with nitroglycerin \u2013 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\u2019m addicted. The latest release in this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1420,1652,1649,563,1650,1651,1104],"class_list":["post-12719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-emogaze","tag-guilty-sleep","tag-local","tag-seeds","tag-sleep","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12719"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12738,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12719\/revisions\/12738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}