Review: The Big Sleep – Son Of The Tiger
“The Big Sleep” is the title of Raymond Chandler‘s 1939 detective novel — the first to feature the iconic Philip Marlowe character that came to be so closely associated with Humphrey Bogart, who portrayed him in the 1946 film-noir adaptation by director Howard Hawks of the same name. The plot of the book and film is intricately layered to keep you guessing at the eventual outcome and, yes, a good deal of murder is involved — after all, “The Big Sleep” is a euphemism for “death.” As used in those works of so many decades past, the phrase takes on a slightly tongue-in-cheek air, playfully hinting at the dangers that await so many characters trapped within the narrative. To be sure, there is also a playfulness about New York’s The Big Sleep — a trio of amazingly skilled musicians who specialize in intricately layered compositions that seem to somehow be just as spontaneous as they are precise — but just as the works which share the band’s name are, in the end, about that most serious of subjects, so too is this band to be ultimately taken seriously.
They may have begun as two friends playing around in a tiny apartment with a keyboard and a guitar, but they’ve somehow ended up with one of the most impressive sounds in the city. Just ask anyone who has seen them live, and you’ll hear about their dynamic sound, ranging from the sparse and calm to the vast and explosive. And now that same sound has been captured on their long-awaited full-length, Son Of The Tiger.
This is not an album arriving out of nowhere. Fans of the band have been anticipating it for quite some time. But, by no means, has the band been idle. We asked guitarist Danny Barria about the lengthy process:
“We worked really closely with our producer, Kevin McMahon, to get the sounds we wanted on tape. We recorded in a few different studios in upstate New York and in the city. It took us a while to get to a point where we felt comfortable with the vocals. Once we had most of the tracks down, Eli Janney mixed most of the record, though Kevin also had a hand in it. We spent a lot of time getting the mixes to sound the way we wanted. We finished the last mix around New Year’s 2005/2006, and spent another little while getting the mastering just right. Every time we went into another phase I’d ask people if we were being big pains in the ass because of our pickiness in regards to the sound.”
Whether they were being pains in the ass or not, the hard work and attention to detail has paid off. The resulting album is what bands strive to accomplish — a great representation of the group’s sound that clearly expresses their many influences while never drifting toward derivation, but instead accomplishing a new sound stemming from those influences into an entirely new territory. Some influences are, perhaps, more obvious than others: a Zeppelinesque riff here, a droney touch of The Cure there, with a dash of Funkadelic rhythm and T-Rex glam spread throughout.
And, of course, any musician who has played in previous bands is likely to bring something of that experience along with them. Sonya, bassist and keyboardist for The Big Sleep, was previously a member of The Hong Kong and Barria has been a member of Mahogany. We asked how their experiences in those bands has perhaps affected their playing in The Big Sleep. “I’ve talked about music a lot with everyone in these bands, but it’s not the overt things we did that influenced us,” says Barria. “Both of those bands have really talented musicians, and you just see things you like or that you think are cool, approaches that are different from yours that you can consider when you’re in the practice space.”
But not all influences on a band need be musical. Barria has said before that he thinks his interest in history — especially World War II — has somehow influenced the music. “It’s hard to put it concisely,” he says. “But there’s something about the scale of the war, and, on the other hand, all the personal stories and all the emotions involved that I find really compelling and awe-inspiring. It’s hard to say how this would affect the music, but whatever it is that draws me to [history], it definitely influences what I do in the band with regards to the feelings that we try to evoke with the music.”
Actually, that does seem pretty concise. In fact, Barria has hit on a rather apt description of his band: there’s something about the scale of The Big Sleep’s music — live, on record, their sound in general. And, on the other hand, all the individual parts are passionately played in ways entirely compelling and awe-inspiring. It’s an album to be experienced, not simply heard. And in first experiencing it, the clarity of thought that’s gone into each and every moment will, likely, be little evident. After all, it’s not often that precision sounds so raw and electric. But no note on Son Of The Tiger is extraneous. Every single beat is perfectly timed. And, in the end, they add up to an enormous whole that washes over you, enveloping you within.
From the swirling, swelling sounds of the opening tracks “Brown Beauty” and “Murder” — sounding a bit like the soundtrack to an aerial dogfight (perhaps another effect of the WWII influence?) — to the funky stop-start of “You Can’t Touch The Untouchable,” the laid-back grooves and crescendos of “SKB” and “Menemy.” the continued dogfighting of “Locomotion” and “Are You Ready (For Love)?,” and all the way through the hypnotic hold of the final three tracks — “Shima,” “Son Of The Tiger,” “New Strings” — this is a delicately constructed tour de force that, with every listen, sounds as if it’s being played for the first time.
Fortunately, all the work has paid off not only in a great album, but also in the type of success that many bands have a hard time achieving. “As soon as we had finished mixing all the songs,” says Barria, “we started sending out those mixes to labels we were interested in and giving them to our friends and other bands. French Kiss was one of the labels we were into, and they came to check us out a few times. One thing led to another and we woke up in bed together the next morning.”
In an industry that often seems to offer success to those that may not be the most deserving, it is refreshing to see a hardworking, innovative, and — most importantly — talented band like The Big Sleep get the chance to reap the benefits such a deal may bear. But, true to form, they’ll still take nothing for granted.
According to Barria, “Once mastering was done and we had lined everything up with French Kiss, we had a lot of help from people like Johnny Beach [talent buyer for New York's Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge] in getting on really good bills and playing higher profile shows, just generally getting noticed a bit more. We’ve been practicing a lot in anticipation of the record release show and for the touring we’re planning to do behind the record. We really want people to come away from the shows feeling like they’ve experienced something special.”
If Son Of The Tiger and The Big Sleep’s past shows are anything to go by (they are), then the release show and the tour will offer experiences that go beyond special. They’ll be extraordinarily momentous. Pretty soon, New York is going to have to learn to share The Big Sleep with the rest of the world because, once the rest of the world gets a listen, they’re not going to want to give the band back. So, with some reluctance, we’ll share and, with much pride, we’ll watch as their star surely rises.
Son Of The Tiger is out today and the band will be celebrating its release on Thursday, September 21st at Mercury Lounge on a bill with Other Passengers, 120 Days, and The Comas.
Check out these songs from the album:
mp3: “Murder”
mp3: “You Can’t Touch The Untouchable”
The album can also be streamed in full this week at AOL.
And The Big Sleep were Spin.com’s band of the day yesterday:
The Big Sleep’s seducing-yet-disorienting bedroom-metal boasts berserker guitar lines that bug-eye and rubberband through sumo-dense walls of winter-coat feedback and anxiety drums. On standouts “Murder” and “Shima,” the hypnotic leads are flanked by doorbell keyboards and Balchandani’s ghostly, answering-machine vocals. This is religious music.
Get it while it’s hot!
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