g-clef

Review

This is the second album from profound and incredible AOTY user jod, who made some waves just last year with his incredibly dreamy and atmospheric ambient debut "Gjenfødelse". While not much different from his first mixtape "microcosm" given the very pillowy ambience on both albums, "Gjenfødelse" still came through with an incredibly unique sound in its own right, not only hammering on even more ambience, but a little bit of post rock influence too. This is no surprise considering how big a fan they are of bands like Sigur Rós, but despite that major influence, it still sounded very unique. The pianos were luscious and pillowy, the production was stunningly spacious and pretty, and Tina Crimson's guest vocals really added to tracks like "Torden" and "Skinnene". But either way, this was a great debut album. A little bit of filler for sure, which they have gone on to fix, but as a whole, it's still a phenomenal album, especially for an AOTY user. And now we arrive here with their second album "Phi", which I personally see as not only an improvement, but more so an evolution of sorts in sound. For context, I have been excited for this album for a while now, especially when I heard the singles "Feilfri" and "∞", both of which saw Sleepyhead getting more and more blissful and luscious with their sound. Ambient music still plays a key role here in these songs, but now post-rock plays an even bigger role than it did last time. And in my opinion, I think the post-rock elements make for much more powerful songs, especially with these two singles. It shows a great progression in Sleepyhead's sound that I hope continues to be built upon as time goes on, because at this rate, I think it can make for some pretty great stuff in the future.

If this album shows anything, it's that Sleepyhead is ready to evolve their sound into much more blissful airy territory, and while this isn't a perfect step forward, it's still a necessary one, and one I respect more than anything. By comparison, this album somehow manages to simultaneously be so much more spacious and ambient in its sound and more punchy in its own right. There are a lot more elements here in these songs that will stand out to you once you pick up on them, such as more prominent guitars, more intricate drum grooves, and even more blissful ambience coming through with the airy synths and other sound effects at play. In regards to the production and just the sound overall, it's a pretty great improvement. Another step forward to more blissful territory, and thanks to the post-rock influence, it gives these songs much more gratifying places to go. However, if I had one complaint to point out, it's that I feel like that post-rock influence is just not capitalized on enough. I think there could've been some spots here that kind of had something of a blissful peak like some key tracks on "Gjenfødelse". Feels more like a missed opportunity to me to expand upon these songs. I also think that song structures are not really a big player here, as a lot of tracks feel like they just wander and meander about until the song ends, which is a bit unfortunate considering everything else is pretty great. But even without that, this album still manages to be great, and that's mostly thanks to this album's extremely heavenly and angelic sound, which will leave one floating into the heavens just as much as the debut did.

To start off, we have the opening track "Feilfri", the lead single to this album. It starts off with these light, airy synths, some faint tones of what sounds like flutes in the background, and some lonely but gorgeous pianos in the mix too. They all come together to make a small, but blissful intro. It's not much, but it's enough to make you feel something. To enhance these feelings of bliss and ascendance I mentioned earlier. And that comes in just before the 2 minute mark, once the guitars start to come in. It doesn't take long for the supporting pieces of beautiful ambience to settle in to create a remarkably somber, but luscious vibe. It feels like waking up in an oasis at night time. The sun may not be out, but everything is still shining so pristinely that it doesn't even matter. Everything here is just so goddamn clean and beautiful, and in some cases, this could be seen as a negative, but in my opinion, I think it works. Anyways, around the 6 and a half minute mark, we finally get some stronger lead guitars coming in, as well as some very light but impactful drums in the mix that almost makes this feel like a religious experience in a way that I cannot describe. It's really blissful in all honesty, and my only complaint is that I wish it was longer. I feel like the song ends a little unceremoniously, but as a whole, it's still fucking gorgeous, and easily one of the better tracks here for sure.

And then we have "∞". This was the second single in the lead up to this album, and the one that really made me really excited to listen to this album. In all honesty, this will probably go down as one of my favorite songs of the year, and possibly the best Sleepyhead song to date so far. It does take a minute to get going, but once you hear that lone guitar melody going along with the airy synths, it's just pure fucking bliss from here on out. Especially once the guitars come in, it is just pure post-rock bliss. Granted, the Sigur Rós influence is stronger than ever here, maybe a little too strong, but I still think it's fantastic. There's also that bit around the 5 and a half minute mark where the heavier guitars start to come in, and by that point, I've already ascended miles upwards into the heavens. It is, without a doubt, the most blissful, stunning, and gorgeous track on here, and a genuine contender for SOTY for me. Literally nothing beats the atmosphere on this track for me, and it's one of the few songs from this year that I can say genuinely made me cry. It is a genuinely powerful song, one that gives and gives and gives in its 11 and a half minute runtime. This, in my opinion, is one of the very few tracks here that I feel like capitalizes on the post-rock influences perfectly, crafting some absolutely stunning atmospheres and blissful crescendoes in the process, making for the best track here, and one of the best from this year.

"Moraš" is perhaps the most "Gjenfødelse" like track on the entire album, and one of the most peaceful too. It features these similarly pillowy, reverb soaked pianos that ring out for what feels like an eternity, and a post-rock groove with the drums similar to many other tracks from that album and even on here. There's even some vocals from Tina Crimson on this one. Tina was a pretty prominent figure on "Gjenfødelse", and she absolutely stunned me with her luscious vocal chops that fit the vibes of these tracks perfectly, and she shines just as bright on this track here. It makes me wish that there were more vocals from her on here, because this is unfortunately the only track with Tina's vocals in the spotlight. It's a shame she doesn't get much more on here, but regardless, she does phenomenal on here. Like I said, this is one of the few tracks here that I feel like could fit snuggly with "Gjenfødelse", and I think that's great!!! I really like the vibe this song gives me quite a bit and reminds me why I loved that album so much, and while, again, structuring isn't exactly here that much and it feels like it wanders a little too much, I still think it's a great song. Definitely one of the best ones here.

"Sleepy Head" feels like a nice breezy interlude to prepare for the last 15 minutes of the album, and while it's nice while it's on, it's not a moment I remember all that well. It feels like a filler moment here that I just don't care for nearly as much. Definitely the weakest moment on the album by far. Not bad, just kinda meaningless imo. Either way, after that relatively brief motif of sorts, we get "Conscious", another similarly ambient track that forgoes the post-rock altogether. Now to be honest, that's not a bad thing, as Sleepyhead is very much known for their airy ambience, especially on earlier projects like "microcosm", and I think they pulled it off fairly well there. But in all honesty, I feel like this is the one track here that simultaneously blends in and stands out on the album. It stands out for being the only true ambient piece here, but I feel like it could blend in with so many other ambient projects I've heard up until this point, especially with some other AOTY user projects I've heard that go in an ambient direction. I don't think it's bad, but I feel like it could've had a little more personality and punch to it.

And lastly, we have the closing title track "φ", a remarkable closer that could probably go down as one of the best here. It continues with the ambience from the last track, but brings in those typical echoey, reverberated guitars, and a particularly interesting groove with the drums that I was not expecting, but liked quite a bit. It's definitely one of the more interesting tracks in that regard, and again, the vibes are just so pretty. This further proves just how impeccable the vibes are throughout this album, and it makes for some truly great stuff. Again, structure wise, there's not much to speak of, as the majority of the song kind of coasts by without much trouble until we get to this noisy outro bit, but overall, still a really beautiful moment here.

I think as a whole, I see a lot about this project to like. I absolutely love the dive into more post-rock inspired sounds, the vibes are just as stellar as ever, and in all honesty, I think the sound marks for a better direction in my opinion. However, I think there is a bit of lost potential that I picked up on multiple listens here. The structures do not help the songs out and certain tracks like "Conscious" just feel like they wander about without much in the way of nuance, and while I do love the soft post-rock sound here, I think some more blissful crescendoes and buildups would've done this album more justice. I said before that this album feels like an improvement and an evolution in a way, and I still stand by that, but I just don't think that the post-rock sound here was fully realized, and there definitely is room to grow. And if that happens, with more improvements down the road, I think a great album is in pissing distance. But overall, regardless of everything, this is still a great album. Yet another necessary addition to the Sleepyhead catalogue that still oozes with beauty at just about every point. Even with the sound change not going over as well as it could've, I still think it's a marketable improvement in sound and definitely will pave the way for better days to come.

S