• Send us Mail
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe to our RSS Feed
  • Search Site

Polari Magazine

  • Home
  • Up Front
    • Editorial
    • Clementine: The Living Fashion Doll
    • Polari Safari
    • WTF? Friday
    • Bulletin Board
    • Polari Facts
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • Features
    • Gallery
    • Opinion
    • Heroes & Villains
  • Community
    • Oral Histories
    • Coming Out Stories
    • Relationships
    • IDAHO
    • LGBT History Month
    • Blogs
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Film and Television
    • Music
    • Stage
    • Visual Arts
    • Classics: Books
    • Classics: Film and Television
    • Classics: Music
  • About
    • About Polari Magazine
    • Contributors
    • Contact

You are here: Polari Magazine / Music / You Want The Night • Sleep Thieves

Sleep-Thieves

You Want The Night

★★★★★
Sleep Thieves
40:27 min • Minty Fresh • June 17, 2014
Andrew Darley reviews
…………………………………………………………………………………………

There’s no argument that Sleep Thieves have taken their time making their debut album. Releasing their first EP back in 2009, the Irish synthpop trio experienced an intermittent interval, largely due to a personnel change in which co-founders Sorcha Brennan and Wayne Fahy recruited Keith Bryne to form the current ensemble. Releasing their Islands EP in 2011, it was blatant that the new addition to the band had brought about a new dynamic and ironed out some creases in their direction. The songs on this EP, some of which are carried over onto this album, were more driven with new blood running through them. The trio ready to make their full-length record, decided to leave the confines of a recording studio in favour of setting up their own with analogue and digital equipment.

Opening with ‘City Of Hearts’, You Want The Night slinks in on sultry synthesizers and projects their discernible new energy. It’s a song of the isolation and wistfulness of living in a city; life rushing past as we try to find our own little bit of happiness. Sorcha gazes, “I wanted not to be lonely but still alone” before the sweeping chorus kicks in. There’s a breathability that perfectly opens the album and a new page for the band. From there, they jump straight into ‘Sparks’, a song that could perfectly bounce along on a John Hughes classic soundtrack, before delivering the unsettling title song. Each song is focused and contains its own character as they explore several styles across the album.

‘Through A Sea’ is the bewitching heart of the record and may well be their most ambitious song to date. Bringing us into the middle of nowhere, ominous synths swing in and out as Sorcha sings of a love who “jumped away from me”. After around two minutes, the unexpected happens; beats start stuttering in before taking off into dance as the chants of “I submit to your control” echo in the background. It’s a chilling effect that is brilliantly executed. Elsewhere, ‘French Kiss’ has a sensual, yet shadowy, texture that is grounded by an unforgettable, lingering bass line. Their first full-length album boasts an unwavering confidence within the band. Their song structures are more experimental and playful than before, whilst Sorcha comes into her own as a front-woman. She commands a dynamic in her voice that can be both sweet and sharp.

By the end of the album, there is a sense that the band have simultaneously have grown in leaps and bounds, yet still hold the spirit of when they first emerged. You Want The Night expresses a similar lovelorn feeling and the dream of romance that features on one of their earliest singles, ‘City Lights’. The difference from when they first started is that they are able to communicate in a more direct and sophisticated way. Although they are still very much discovering their sound, they have made their debut one that counts. It features their best work to date and leaves it right open to where they could go next. As their songwriting, identity and ability to conjure moods blooms, there’s a certain magic in how they encapsulate the sprawling feeling of loneliness in such a simple way as they do on the album’s opener. Great things come to those who wait.

Share this post:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest

Search Polari

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

About Polari Magazine

Polari Magazine is an LGBT arts and culture magazine that explores the subculture by looking at what is important to the people who are in it. It’s about the lives we lead, not the lifestyles we’re supposed to lead.

Its content is informed & insightful, and features a diverse range of writers from every section of the community. Its intent is to help LGBT readers learn about their own heritage and to sustain a link between the present and the past.

Polari is designed to nurture the idea of community, whether that be social and political, or artistic and creative. It is your magazine, whether you want to read it, or whether you want to get involved in it, if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, or queer.

Polari Magazine is all these: it's a gay online magazine; it's a gay and lesbian online magazine; it's an LGBT arts and culture magazine. Ultimately, it is a queer magazine.

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

Twitter

Tweets by @PolariMagazine

Archive

  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • July 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • May 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
© Copyright - Polari Magazine - Wordpress Theme by Kriesi.at
  • scroll to top
  • Send us Mail
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Website Privacy & Cookies