Crocodiles - SleepForever

Wed 24th Nov, 2010 in Music Reviews

The blissful drone of dashing San Diego duo Crocodiles returns on their second album Sleep Forever, with the buzz and reverbed vocals make for a smoother backing than on the pair’s debut Summer of Hate, as washes of noise give the record a 60s swirl rather than the harsher, slashing synths and riffs of the first album.

It was only last year that the pair came from nowhere, shrouded in a cloud of deliberate obscurity, and unleashed a debut that made you want to kill. This one just grips you from the stupendous opening track Mirrors, which starts out as a few notes of hazy noise and builds into something quite spectacular, with guitars circling as noises rise, crash and recede like a wild sea. Another swirling five-minute plus epic in Stoned to Death follows, with a contagious, regal sounding refrain and woozy keyboard, if it was two minutes shorter you would swear it was one of the lost 60s singles featured in the Nuggets compilations.

While the album only has eight songs, there is so much going on within them it certainly doesn’t feel short. Each track is brimming with layers of sonic adventures to unravel and, particularly in headphones, the way the various noises, overlap, undulate and loom over the lyrics reveals the work of some meticulous and multi-talented musicians.

The tone and mood of the album swings markedly across the tracks, with the density of the music changing to the emotion expressed within. There is some brightness in there too, with the sunny hooks, tinkled xylophone and almost handclap-beat drumming of Hearts of Love providing some bounce and bop, even though the lyrics are dealing with the absence of any affection within said ventricles. Another contrast between some pure sugary pop and some rather spiteful intonations in All My Hate and My Hexes Are For You wraps the album up.

The Australian version of the album includes four bonus tacks. Hearing them after the album proper is as if the band were cheered back on stage for an encore, by an insatiable crowd. We cop some 80s smut in a cover of Jet Boy Jet Girl and a mini medley of Dee Lite’s Groove is in the Heart and a crack at the classic California Girls before a couple of remixes just make you want to hit play all over again. With this album Crocodiles have taken a huge step forward, and it is a challenging record that will probably keep you sleepless over summer.