(Etch n Sketch/Inertia)

I <3 DIY

Sleeping States is Markland Starkie – a composer, performer and bedroom producer from the UK. His debut, There The Open Spaces, begins with Rain Check: a hissing, low-fi vocal take where Starkie cutely sings When I’m getting ready / In spite of the rain / You sometimes ring me up and say / Another time? The line does another round and adds a lower harmony, in the third round a higher one, the fourth higher still. The five voices in the final round sound – in contrast to the initial, imperfect vocal take – simply sublime. It highlights the central clause of the album. The recording quality may be low, but the songwriting, the layering, and the subconscious sonic aesthetics of harmony far outweigh any quibbles about tape hiss. The production is actually quite accomplished: samples pan and fade, guitars slide and glide around the melody while the vocals pulse in heavy breaths of reverb. The few songs with drums benefit from the treatment, and indicate what could have been with a band and proper studio, but this record is so fucking quaint I couldn’t really care.

JAKEB SMITH

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