There are some regularities in life one should not walk away from - Xmas with the family (and the VoS interview marathon, of course!), summer vacations in the sun, Roadburn in April and every fall, our nameless friends in 夢遊病者 (Sleepwalker) bless us with a new record which VoS premieres for you! This time the new music is a one-track, 37-minute “opus” called РЛБ30011922. This might be their most Emil Amos record ever. Love it!
Why the heck did I throw in this reference to Emil? Easy! First of, he and the Sleepwalker guys love the Scorpions, he has a knack for cut-ups and re-assembling things, is a workaholic and a musical chameleon - just think of his work in Holy Sons, Grails, Lilacs & Champagne and OM - the three anonymous folks here are similar in approach and result. You will always get exactly what you best do (not) expect - or vice versa.
To make it clear - 夢遊病者 state that this record is more or less an effort to emulate a life lived in all its passions, turbulences, sadness and, most of all, joy. This record is maybe their most 70s Classic Rock record for many of the riffs are pretty straight, even though sometimes not moving straight forward. There is a glorious undertone to the 37 minutes. It’s not a tightly woven carpet of bits and blobs this time, but a combination of many percussive points that are embued with some spherical elements that might come out of a synth or a pedal board. The vocal samples could be those from a Russian nonna - is that the life lived? There surely seems to be a load of emotional encounter, of divine denotations, of titanic thanks involved in those words even though I do not understand anything. Is this what the grandmother of one the guys tries to tell him to follow for life? That assumed personal connection is not even important, for the emotions could also have been delivered by any other older woman. It is a message of “love life. live life. live love.” And the way that the guys connect it with music driven forward by the drums, pulsating through the riffs, sparkling with synths and samples. My goodness, I do love alliterations and triplets, don’t I? However, there is one last thing that needs to be said about this record: 夢遊病者 have never sounded more euphoric. Will they ever sound this way again? Doubtful. But this is one of the most shiniest diamonds in their mosaic to date. Won. Der. Ful. Thanks!
Maybe you want to re-visit their last bigger releases Noč Na Krayu Sveta from 2021 and SKOPOFOBOEXOSKELETT (2023) or 2024’s Delirium Pathomutageno Adductum. Afterwards it will be clear why, for f’s sake, this is one of the effin best bands out there! And yes, I AM biased. And proud of it!
If you want to know more about this intriguing musical project, there is their Bandcamp page - there you can also order the record on tape. If you want to know more about the band - follow this link and listen to our interviews with the leveliest of ghouls.
