ALBUM PREMIERE: Sleepyhead Make Strong Return with Dreamy Indie Rock LP ‘New Alchemy’

Photo credit: Dana Arnaboldi

Sleepyhead recorded their forthcoming sixth album, New Alchemy, at the legendary Boston area recording studio Q Division with esteemed producer and Q Division co-founder Jon Lupfer at the helm. They are releasing the album August 19th via Wild Sometimes Records as a digital download and via streaming platforms and they plan to play as many shows as they can manage after that.

New Alchemy features Sleepyhead founders, drummer/vocalist Rachael McNally and guitarist/vocalist Chris O’Rourke as well as bassist/vocalist/keyboardist Derek van Beever who joined the trio in 2004, a few years after the other two had moved to Boston. The title track to New Alchemy was inspired by the exploits of the New Alchemy Institute, a utopian endeavor founded by idealistic scientists in the 1970’s in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the hometown of Sleepyhead guitarist/vocalist Chris O’Rourke.

The members of the New Alchemy Institute looked to nature as the ultimate designer of systems to support the human population of this planet. Careful observation of natural cycles and processes inspired their templates truly sustainable forms of agriculture and animal husbandry. They researched intensive gardening, biological pest control, cover cropping, irrigation utilizing fishpond water, perennial food crops, and tree crops. They raised fish in above-ground, translucent tanks; wastewater was used in hydroponic farming as well as irrigating greenhouse crops. For years, Chris had been wanting to write a song inspired by this special place that he’d visited as a child on school trips, and finally made it happen. Then the band decided it’d make a great album title.

Today Glide is excited to offer an exclusive premiere of New Alchemy ahead of its release later this week. With its mix of dream pop, indie rock, and jangle pop, the album presents the band at what may be their tightest to date and gives us a welcome reminder just how good they are. Bringing to mind acts like Yo La Tengo, Wilco, Luna, and even The Delines and Richmond Fontaine, the band locks into a sound that is at once familiar while also venturing into new territory. Airy, almost surf-like guitars complement the group’s simple vocal harmonies and dreamy lyrics, not to mention their ability to switch off on vocals, and they often layer in a melange of instruments to give each song its soaring quality. All of this comes together to reveal a collection of songs that is compelling, poignant, and real damn rocking.

The band describes the inspiration and process behind the album:

We are so proud to present to the world New Alchemy, an album into which we have poured our hearts and souls. It’s our sixth full length album, but it’s the first one that is the culmination of many years of work since joining forces with Derek, who has brought so much to the band. Creating and playing this music has helped bring us much joy and peace over the past few years, and we hope that now it might do the same for other people, too!

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