Adelaide alternative band Sleep Talk have just dropped a new single. Michael, Jacob, Josh, Lewis and Fraser are following up their 2016 EP Growing Pains with “New Tradition”.
“New Tradition” does an incredible job of expressing a circular existence, with life feeling like a blur of activity that doesn’t really register. Repeated lyrics echo this; a frustrated feeling of ‘haven’t we done this already?’. The raw edged vocals have the same impact, this cycle of life reaching a point of saturation.
The break-out sections, which feel like wrestling to break out of the loop are unreal. As is the bridge that’s a grasp for something more than the same old shit. Despite the gritty bass, we’re pulled back into the same old with the chorus.
“Sell my soul to you
Sell myself to this
Watch me waste away
I’m sleeping in a dream”
And then with and impressive build up, we’re finally tenderly and painfully shown what is underneath the numbed existence. “The loss is so strong / It’s been there all along”
The music video, created by the geniuses at Crystal Arrow Films captures this brilliantly. Showing life happening to and around the numbed/non-reactive band members, as well as trying to outrun what insists on chasing them. They’re eventually more and more affected and present with everything that’s happening, culminating in facing and being present what’s in front of them.
Check out “New Tradition” with its video or stream via Spotify.
