Genre: Rock Year: 2004 Country: UK Official Site: Neon Sleep Details: Tracks & Audio Label: Grassington Records
There's a certain joy in finding a few notes on the piano or a couple of chords on the guitar and playing them over and over again. They become like a whirling dervish's dance, whirring and whirring, again and again, repeating and repeating and relaxing and relaxing, and before you know it a few moments have gone by and you didn't notice what you were doing.
Or maybe that's just me.
I had that experience listening to the 11-track sampler from the one-man band Neon Sleep. Rob Ashworth, that's it.
There are hints of the twinkly bells of alterna-pop romance, like The Magnetic Fields, but also the dissonant chords and keyboard noises of heavier bands, like Nine Inch Nails. But where those bands grow into roaring, electronic soundscapes, Neon Sleep maintains gentle movement perfectly suited to watching with the Visualizations going on your Windows Media Player.
Watch the colors spin, listen to the songs spin. Radio hiss and keyboard bells. Barely heard voices and warm, deep guitar chords.
When Ashworth sings, his voice can drift a little flat and be slightly jarring for sensitive ears, but he's got a pleasant enough, even-tempered range that's eminently listenable.
Neon Sleep doesn't put me to sleep, but when I listen closely, I find yourself not listening at all, lulled into a musical reverie that is largely hookless, like the best Moby and Aphex Twin instrumentals.
Listening to music from another room, and you never fall asleep, but you drift in and out of consciousness, listening to the rain, listening to your listening and wondering at how pleasant a few nice notes together are … like a … like a Neon Sleep song.
Neon Sleep Endormi et rêver
