Review – Sleep Movies – Drinks the Potion (Crafted Sounds)

Occasionally I will suffer from Insomnia. It leaves me with a horrible sensation for the next day and sometimes it will stretch for two nights in succession. The Third day is all I can do not to wander into traffic because I’m so tired. This time spent without sleep is a mixed bag of self-reflection, planning for the next day and attempting breathing exercises to hypnotize myself into dreamland. With Drinks the Potion, the latest release from Sleep Movies, I feel a sort of automatic kinship to Skyler Brimmeier (Composer/Performer) in his Lo-Fi psychic sprawl. Without knowing Skyler personally, I would wager a guess that he also has trouble sleeping.
Drinks the Potion is twelve tracks that spread layers of keyboards and drum machines over minimalistic lyrics that pull you in with gentle hands that you would suspect to be quite warm. These are hands that may be a little lonely, but still very warm. The songs run a variety of lengths from System Crash at 00:47 seconds to The Web which clocks in at 10:18. With some tracks sounding like lost levels from NES era Castlevania (Apparition) and some that sound like melodies composed in a fugue state from which they could stretch into a dream (Vomit).

Sleep Movies Drinks the Potion is a great album to maybe not cure insomnia, but to open the possibility that occasional insomnia can be OK and will not be your untimely end. Who knows? You may even find your best ideas around quarter to four in the morning.