Their new album, Oak Street Basement, is also exceptionally good. Completely ignoring the rules of music, it transcends genres and labels into something new and compelling. Written and recorded over the past few years, Oak Street Basement seems to declare a whole new beginning for the band.
A little background. SLSS began in 2006 after former Beyond Analog members Judd Hancock, London Van Rooy, and Jim Mandel Jr. decided to completely abandon their former sound and write a completely new and original album. That album, Until The World Is Happy; Wake Up You Sleepyhead Sun, was something no one had ever quite heard. The influences were recognizable, but the delivery was entirely unique. Within months, Small Leaks were signed to No Sleep Records and began touring to promote the album.
Skip ahead to January of this year where I'm standing outside the Rouge Bar waiting for a friend to arrive. I end up conversing with Ryan Garner who informs me that his band, Small Leaks Sink Ships, is playing a release show later in the month and asks if I would like a copy of their new single. I said sure and asked if they had been playing any shows recently (I am an avid collector of show posters and hadn't seen their name on any in awhile). It turns out they had been playing some, but mostly they had been writing a lot and recording with a whole host of studios and engineers.
After the show, I asked my girlfriend if she wanted to check out a new song so I popped in the cd-r with the mysterious 26 on it. We were in no way prepared for what happened next. After a little guitar intro we heard, “Pray for pills that won't affect me on the morning after, pile all the pills on the floor, on the kitchen table!!!” Or something to that effect. The following four minutes and thirty-seven seconds just completely blew our minds.
We let the song play over and over the entire ride home. We only had enough of a drive for it to play three times through, but you get the idea. Now that I was curious I looked them up through the all-seeing-eye Google and sure enough, for the past couple of years SLSS has been releasing live and in-studio videos and photos on the making of Oak Street Basement.
I'm just beyond impressed. While writing their new material, they were joined by the amazing Rafael Macias on guitar. Ryan came aboard playing sampling devices and keys. Their writing became a meditative, purely emotional experience that let the members express all sides of the artistic process.
For the release of Oak Street Basement, Small Leaks created one of a kind album sleeves that were only available at their release show. When you bought your ticket, you were guaranteed a unique piece of art with it. They released Oak Street Basement on their own Cross Chatter Records, a new label that promises to “release pieces of art from artists all over the globe that deserve to be heard.”
The songs on Oak Street Basement are just magnificent. After the captured mayhem of the first track (the aforementioned “Pray For Pills”) the band brings it down for “His Days Are Like Grass,” the illusory and melodic track that turns into a full-on effective dream. “Bloom” follows, a light-hearted, tap guitar tribute to the woman who makes the man. “Glass Hypnotist,” the fourth track, is another single from the album and probably my favorite thus far. After a huge buildup, the band breaks in with the idea “Let's go back to the start!” The song then proceeds to say shoot your television and head down to the park, which always sounds like a good idea to me. The album closes with “Shuddersome,” a blazing-quick yet morbidly slow epic tale of sinister proportion.
Do yourself a tremendous favor and acquire a copy of Oak Street Basement for your own aural pleasure. Soon, you too will devote your transforming life to the progression and discipline of Small Leaks Sink Ships and you too may discover the meaning of the number 26.
