Sleeper announce first new music in 20 years
On 22 March 2019, Sleeper release The Modern Age – their first album in 21 years.
It wasn’t meant to happen. In fact, the band had promised each other it never would.
We had no plan to get back together. Sometimes life throws you a massive curve ball. You end up jumping off the cliff, just to see what it feels like.” – Louise Wener
The first single to be taken from the album is Look at You Now, which is released on 5 December 2018 on all digital platforms.
The band spent summer 2018 recording The Modern Age with their long-time producer, Stephen Street – a relationship that clicked into place again right away. They tracked live at Metway Studios in their adopted city of Brighton, before decamping to Street’s studio in West London to add the finishing touches.
The Modern Age is the outward-looking sound of a band revitalized and refreshed. Covering subjects from motherhood and social media to personal loss and, inevitably, relationships. The Modern Age retains Sleeper’s classic pop sensibilities with a shiny, new, contemporary feel.
Comeback single, Look at You Now, is a protest song at heart: a howl for the politically homeless in a landscape where reasoned debate has given way to vitriol.
As well as digitally, The Modern Age will be available on limited edition coloured vinyl, black vinyl and CD. The album is released on the band’s own Gorsky Records.
The track-listing for The Modern Age Is as follows:
Side One
Paradise Waiting
Look At You Now
The Sun Also Rises
Dig
The Modern Age
Side Two
Cellophane
Car into the Sea
Blue Like You
More Than I Do
Big Black Sun
Sleeper tour the UK next Spring with festival appearances to be announced. Dates (so far) are:
March
21 – GLASGOW Garage
22 – NEWCASTLE Riverside
23 – EDINBURGH Liquid Rooms
28 – SOUTHAMPTON Engine Rooms
29 – NORTHAMPTON Roadmender
30 – LEEDS Church
April
04 – DERBY The Venue
05 – CARDIFF The Globe
12 – BRISTOL 02 Academy
13 – LONDON KENTISH TOWN Forum
Sleeper enjoyed huge critical and commercial success in the mid ‘90s, achieving 8 Top-40 singles across 3 Top-10 albums with well over 1,000,000 sales. Their music was characterized by astute, observational lyrics and big, hook-driven melodies. Wener was an iconic front-person, heading up a movement that brought women centre-stage in guitar music.
Sleeper split In 1998 and walked purposely away from the limelight. Wener carved out a career as a successful novelist. Drummer Andy Maclure and John Stewart – Sleeper’s guitarist – both became lecturers in music studies. Sleeper’s current line-up are joined by former Prodigy bassist Kieron Pepper.
