Album Details

• Artist: Small Leaks Sink Ships
• Album: Until The World Is Happy; Wake Up You Sleepyhead Sun
• Label: No Sleep
• Year of Release: 2007
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: symphony on 2007-07-12

Media

O glory to you Lord, you have finally delivered the one of the most stunning albums ever. Take elements of Make Believe with the messy guitar, place them in cauldron, add a dash of real raw vocals, a few tablespoons of original lyricism, and you feel as if you are truly introduced to real music. This is what the Muses intended when they inspired us to start humming as cavemen and then blessing us with electric guitars somewhere in the 1900s. The under the radar, yet highly impressive debut release Until The World Is Happy, Wake Up You Sleepyhead Sun, from Small Leaks Sink Ships. For the support of my sanity, the album title in this review will be shortened to this nifty abbreviation: UTWIHWUYHS. Yikes!

Starting from the winding "The Flood" and ending with the also winding "Truth of Transition," yes, you will be silly by the end of this album. It's so...everywhere and yet, it also cohesively connected track-after-track, that's its variety is somehow connectible--which I think is what further makes this album so goddamn good. In "The Best Time of the Worst Year" you are really introduced to the aforementioned rawness of the voice of Jude Hancock just emitting the heartfelt delivery of lyrics like "bound and gagged with conscious of mother's mind, I'll stand firm, to bad for my mind" and it's such a powerful delivery and it's utterly moving.

Probably one of the most outspoken tracks on the album and the most political, if not even meaning to be so, is "Dear Dictator." The piano intro is very moodsetting and the duel singing of Hancock and Lon Vanrooy of the thesis of the song "there's jokers, there's liars, but respectfully sire, I think that your kingdom might fall" is further example of this. After all this is the most impressive drum performance on the album andthe very beginning also draws an end to the song and carries gracefully yet powerfully into the instrumental "Boom, Tap, Crash."

Needless to say due to my lack of bias, that this one of my favorite albums. But here comes the bias: the vocals occassionally, disregarding their rawness can be slightly irritating and grating ("The Flood") just as easily as they can be impressive ("Shake"). The inconsistency can be annoying but it becomes quite easy to get by. This is an enjoyable album and one you really shouldn't avoid.

User Reviews and Comments

Review:

on 2007-07-12 hstisgod Said:

Lol... Sean I'm glad you like this album, on top of it this is one of your best reviews yet!! But still, for all your praise, this album still didnt get the five stars, the enormously hyped TFOT or Circa got...You're suspect foo! But still writing dope, and glad to see you rolling again!
Not Rated