Those mysterions Sleep Token have returned with another offering from their deity known as Sleep. Enthralling in sound and mythology without ever sharing their identities, Sleep Token have already amassed a strong following, evidenced by selling out their eleventh ritual (aka show) within thirty seconds.
New single “The Way That You Were” premiered on Radio 1 Rock Show before its official release, accompanied with a music video. Visually and sonically, “The Way That You Were” could be understood as a follow on from “Jaws”, as keen eyes will recognise the appearance of a familiar actress, as well as the presence of flowers, mostly wilted.
Also linked across two tracks is a seeking insistence to learn more about what hides beneath a cautious exterior. Where “Jaws” asks to be shown “where the delicate stops” and to see what they’ve lost, “The Way That You Were” beckons to “tear off the bandage” and reveal how much they’ve been hurt.
It’s a curious theme for a band that reveals nothing of their personal selves, while also offering warmth and compassionate acceptance toward one they know is damaged and “too tired to control how you look like you feel like you should”. Both of these radiant releases speak like clear eyed observations of one they love, where patience has seeped away, leaving more of an urgency to know the cyclonic uneasy truth that lies behind a smile.
Pared back to organ and voice, “The Way That You Were” sonically lays bare as much as it does lyrically, in this yearning quest for emotional nakedness. With no hint of the heaviness we heard in One or Two EPs, Sleep Token are unaffected by genre expectations with this beautiful new offering.
Watch via YouTube below, or find via your favourite streaming service: http://smarturl.it/TWTYW
