Band: Our City Sleeps
Album: “Wake Up!”
Label: Unsigned
Released: Fall/Winter 2007
Reviewed by: Cory
Myspace
Our City Sleeps combines pop with indie rock to make a brand of catchy rock ’n’ roll all their own. Their sound is somewhere in between the artsy styling of Cool Hand Luke and the pop/rock hooks of Forever Changed. The recording is pretty decent on this album, but I feel like it fails to capture the energy these guys have when they play live. And to be fair capturing that energy is a hard thing to accomplish. Nevertheless, this album is a great listen to hold you over until you get the chance to catch these guys live and then you’ll understand what I mean.
I love the guitars in their songs. It reminds me of older rock and rockabilly bands. Our City Sleeps also makes good use of keyboards and xylophones to place in some electronica interludes and add a little bit of flair to their songs. They are also able to utilize their instruments to create moments of ambience like in their song “Caesura” that add an epic overtone to the record. The vocals of this band are also top-notch. The lead vocalist’s voice has a commanding aura about it that makes you bob your head to the music and sing along.
Overall, this a great debut release by a promising up and coming Christian indie band. Production isn’t as great as I would want it to be, but this is their first release and without record label support so I’m going to shut up about that. Stand out tracks are “Wake Up!”, “Lying Wake”, and “Questions”. The lyrics are heartfelt and provide a candid take on the musicians’ faith in God.
P.S. be sure to listen for the hidden track. It will be your theme song every time you order Chinese takeout.
Score: 8.5/10