Artist: Sleeping States
Title: Old vs New
Label: Bella Union
Genre: Indie
Bitrate: 162kbit av.
Time: 00:11:48
Size: 14.40 mb
Rip Date: 2008-12-31
Str Date: 2008-00-00
1. Planning My Escape 1:54
2. Old vs New 1:35
3. Liberty Feelup 2:50
4. A Trip To NYC 2:46
5. Trumpet Calls 2:43
Release Notes:
The Old vs New EP was a project to document a number of
Sleeping States songs that appeared on previous releases, but
have since evolved through repeated performances into often
rather different representations of the songs themselves. The
result addresses a dilemma that I've encountered over the few
years that I've been recording and playing under the Sleeping
States moniker, which was to bring together the private and
personal character of most of Sleeping States' recorded
material, with the altogether more extrovert, 'band'-oriented
interpretations of those songs when played live.
The idea of a 'band' is the focus of this record, therefore,
with Robin Christian (drums) and Craig Gell (guitars/drums)
making as much of a contribution to the performances of these
songs as I did. Robin has been involved on a number of
Sleeping States tours, while Craig has been a fundamental part
of the live lineup since the first Sleeping States shows. For
the EP, we bashed out each of the songs to tape with minimal
overdubs to retain the sound and feel of the live show,
transforming the original version of 'Old vs New' from
somewhat of a lilting ballad into something more towards
vigorously joyful pop-punk, while the overdubbed choir of
Marklands on the original 'A Trip to NYC' was instead played
through a vocal-sampler, with the original drum-machine
replaced by both Robin and Craig playing separate parts of the
drumkit. The lone cover on the EP, 'Liberty Feelup'
(originally by the sorely missed Scottish band, Life Without
Buildings), became a set staple on the last couple of Sleeping
States tours and plays on the strengths of this simple line-up
of two guitars and drums that we built to flesh out the songs
live.
While it is of course impossible to fully convey a live show
on record out of its context, the 'Old vs New' EP
energetically captures (well, it was at least energetically
performed) a large aspect of the music of Sleeping States
that, until now, has only been heard by those who have seen
Sleeping States live. Also, it just seemed a fun thing to do
at the time, which is what it's all about, right?
Original Versions
The original versions of the songs on Old vs New appeared as
follows:
* 'Planning My Escape' - There The Open Spaces [Album 2007]
* 'Old vs New' - Kontra-Punkte [EP 2005]
* 'A Trip to NYC' - A Year in the Life of Sleeping States [EP
2005]
* 'Trumpet Calls' - Distances Are Great [Album 2004]