RIYL: Slowdive, Title Fight, Radiohead, Swervdriver, Prurient, Ride, Echo Lake, My Bloody Valentine

“Thunderous, effects-laden power chords and squalls of noise. … Sleep Therapy is about the more direct, rock & roll oriented side of early-’90s shoegaze, skewing toward the clearer, roaring sounds of Ride and Swervedriver.” – PopMatters

“Noise pop steeped in themes of existentialism and the dreary side of waking life.” – Creative Loafing

“Magnificent. … The moody post-apocalyptic ambiance of Creatures is palpable from the opening title-track that swirls with guitar reverb and a slow burning urgency that eclipses at the song’s finish like a wildly spinning coin settling to a full stop.”  – Step On Magazine

“An ambient wall of beautiful noise.” – Bloody Disgusting

JUNE 23, 2015 — After returning from a five-year hiatus earlier this year with Dirt City Swans, the first release in their new EP series, power shoegaze group Sleep Therapy released their latest installment, Creatures, yesterday (June 23). The band also just debuted tracks from the new EP via PopMatters and Bloody Disgusting, scoring comparisons to ’90s shoegaze legends Ride and Swervedriver.

Burning with an intensity designed to incinerate the tedium of their late 20^th Century suburban youth, Sleep Therapy exists somewhere between the moody elegance of ’90s British shoegaze/dreampop and the potency of American hardcore/punk. A convergence of their collective influences—from  Slowdive to Fugazi, Kitchens Of Distinction to Converge—the four men have seduced and assaulted audiences for over a decade.

Since their formation, Sleep Therapy has honed its visually stimulating, high-decibel performances, during which they’ve shared bills with a wide range of acts including The Drums, Deerhunter, The Thermals, stellastarr*, Snowden, The Appleseed Cast & Jukebox The Ghost.

Sleep Therapy returns now with a reinvigorated sound. In August of 2014, the band began discussing an apocalyptically themed concept project composed of 4 EPs that would be released over the course of 2015. New ambitions in tow, they began writing all four works simultaneously, teaming up with local artist Steven Dixey to create the album art.

In January 2015, the first installment of the 4 EPs, Dirt City Swans, was released to high praise. Its unique blend of textured melodicism and driving power drew the attention of a new crowd in addition to fans of earlier incarnations of the band. They also began to garner notice from their unusual way of releasing records—instead of having physical copies of each album, they instead sold 8”x10” prints of the album’s cover with download codes printed on the back.

After the successful release of Dirt City Swans, Sleep Therapy headed back to Sleeping Partner Studios to record the second installment—Creatures. To be released in June, Creatures is the most ambitious material Sleep Therapy has formulated to date. With loads of effected guitars, a tightly pocketed rhythm section, and vivid lyrics following a family trying to find safety among destruction, Creatures pulls the listener into a dark but spacious world and holds them there from start to finish.

The band’s unique meld of the ambient and the intense goes back to the roots of their foundation. In 2003, two acquaintances, York Henderson and Tom Bruno, found common ground discussing music far removed from the largely one-dimensional pop they and their contemporaries had been listening to. They also agreed immediately who could perfectly front this new project they had in mind—close friend John Lally, who developed his musical taste outside the punk/hardcore scene more closely known by Henderson and Bruno.

Developing his own style influenced by largely British pop bands such as The Cure, Slowdive, Ride, and Kitchens Of Distinction, Lally was also looking for a group that fit with the new music he’d been writing. They found a bassist in Lally and Henderson’s housemate, Blake Butler, and the four started playing together in the basement where they lived, immediately uncovering a unique chemistry derived form the unexpected and explosive confluence of their tastes. Over the next few years, the band played countless shows and completed two recordings: a demo in 2004, followed by their first full length in 2007. After multiple lineup changes, hundreds of shows and a few more EPs, Sleep Therapy decided to take a long hiatus in 2010, leaving people wondering if they would ever return.

Now back in full swing after five years, with Luke Baries of Small Victory on bass, Sleep Therapy is more focused than ever, with a transformed intent to break new ground. On the momentum of the release of Dirt City Swans in January, and with Creatures out now, the future is bright, and the feedback is blistering.