Moscow’s SleepingToys have been going since 2016 and started out as Ilya Medelyaev’s solo vehicle before becoming a band proper. With their online material coming to the attention of God is an Astronaut, they got a massive leg-up supporting the post-rock giants in Moscow last year. And so here we have their debut release, a quintessential post-rock effort, abrim with gentle, chiming guitars which drift and loop through rolling piano.
Across the EP’s five compositions, SleepingToys showcase a style that’s sedate and graceful, not geared toward grand crescendos, drama, and high theatrics, but steady, building and maintaining.
There are some nice, swooping violins on ‘Sonata Dec’, which does blossom into a surging finish, but it’s measured, balanced, cinematic, and ‘One Billion Disappointments’, has a lightness that seemingly contradicts the title, a loping drum beat pushing along a melodic guitar and supple string drapes to conjure a pretty and accessible tunefulness.
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It's a solid debut, airy and accessible. It stays well within the mould, but they don’t put a note wrong in what is undeniably an accomplished set.
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