Calgary’s Sleepkit Share New “Camp Emotion” Title Track
Sleepkit is a band that can genuinely be described as mind-expanding; from the nucleus of their songwriting to the texturally ornamented arrangements, they manage to imbue each aspect of their music with a sly veneer of otherness. Sprung from the minds of songwriters, singers & co-founders Ryan Bourne (Chad VanGaalen, Ghostkeeper, Plant City Band) and Marie Sulkowski (Texture Twins), Sleepkit’s repertoire showcases a band whose serious understanding of the pop song is buffered by beautifully detailed texture and a penchant for the slightly skewed.
Bolstered by the addition of drummer Eric Hamelin (Alvvays, Ghostkeeper) and multi-instrumentalist Joleen Toner (Crystal Eyes, Plant City Band), Sleepkit are sharing their sophomore album, Camp Emotion, a nuanced and emotionally unarmoured refinement of their singular brand of experimental pop. Produced by Scott ‘Monty’ Munro, a prolific producer and multi-instrumentalist known for his work with Preoccupations, Chad VanGaalen, Lab Coast, and Ghostkeeper, Camp Emotion actualizes their idiosyncratic art-pop vision in a shimmering opus that explores the outer edges of song creation – functioning as well as a dancefloor soundtrack as it does a hazy, late-night headphone session through inner space.
The music behind “Camp Emotion,” the LP’s title track, came out of a late-night solo campfire session where Bourne was jamming on a little Yamaha Portasound keyboard. “The dubby feel of the demo reminded me vaguely of “Ghetto Defendant’’ by The Clash, so I asked Hamelin if he’d be our Allen Ginsberg,” Bourne explains. “He recited these great automatic phrases – partially addressing his son Sonny – into this giant old sampler Monty had gifted us, which we then messed with using varispeed and delay until they sounded totally demented.” The original campfire recording book-ends the track.