March 19, 2024

Sleepmakeswaves, Distant Lands Tour 2019, Dingwalls, London 20/03/19

So it is gig time! Vanguard Online had a date at the iconic venue in the heart of Camden Town, The Dingwalls, open from 1973 this venue saw the beginnings of bands such as The Clash, Sex Pistols , The Ramones, Foo Fighters, or The Strokes to name few and this evening was the time for the instrumental Post Rock band from Australia Sleepmakeswaves, Aussie band which returns to The UK after their last gig at The Underworld on October 2018 after the release of their last album Made of Breath Only in 2017, We interviewed in January, you can check it out here

The band is on tour, Distant Lands Tour 2019, with heir high-school idols COG, also from Australia.

What an opening ladies and gentlemen! Their setlist was a perfect review of their discography with songs such as The Stars Are Stigmata from Love of Cartography, To you They Are Birds, To Me They Are Voices in The Forest from And So We Destroyed Everything, Midnight Sun from Made of Breath Only, Keep Your Splendid Silent Sun from Tangled Thoughts of Leaving, to name few, they also played a cover of Robert Miles’s Children.

They kicked off the evening with To You They Are Birds, beautiful song with ups and downs in the rhythm which made the audience get into the mood of what was the beginning of a show full of energy.

With Midnight Sun and Glacial from Made of Breath they had the audience completely under they mercy, dancing and moving their bodies to the rhythm, with Emergent, arrg what a song! those guitars they made us travel to space following the sound with every single part of our bodies, with this one I had to close my eyes to space out which made the sound get into my veins even more and almost felt like I was in a spaceship about to depart, goosebumps everybody! They continued with The Stars are Stigmata, we still on tour through the space, with strong and powerful melodies and very technical sound we see guitarist Otto giving his soul to us and Lachlan Marks almost breaking the stage! after this song they surprised us with Robert Mile’s version of Children, I’m sure everyone remembers this 90’s hit, well Sleepmakeswaves made their own post rock version of it and I have to say it sounded like heaven, for those who haven’t heard it yet check this link, also they still on tour if you want to check it out live!

They ended the evening with, I must say, one of my favourites from Love of Cartography, Something Like Avalanches, and easy but still energetic song to bring us back on Earth.

There’s no doubt that was an amazing evening, great setlist, easy to fall in love with their sound and amazing attitude.

An exceptional band worth to be seen, they are very energetic on stage, I’d say they make photographer’s work a bit hard jumping and moving around!

For those who couldn’t make it last night and are willing to travel to see them, their next dates are in this tour flyer.

Text by Puri Caparroz / Photos by Paulina Leyton

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