Since Art Of Sleeping began releasing music in 2012, they've built a solid fan base and had the opportunity to perform at Splendour In The Grass.
In October, Art Of Sleeping were invited into Triple J's studio to perform the weekly segment 'Like A Version', playing their own rock-infused acoustic cover of Drake's 'Hotline Bling'. It's was a clever, perfectly Art Of Sleeping-esque take on a style of music far from their own.
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“We listened to it individually then came together; it probably took us two nights of running it over and over and basically just winging it until it felt good,” keyboardist Jarryd Shuker says.
Being able to whip up a polished cover of such a well-known song in two nights is a real sign of musical awareness, and their version has over 200,000 views on YouTube.
As for the sound of Art Of Sleeping's original work, it could be described as dreamy, synth-filled alternative rock. “To be honest, our sound is always evolving, or maybe it's getting more refined I'm not sure,” Jarryd says.
“As a result you've got an album where there's different styles throughout it, and I think if you listened to all the songs we wrote, there was around 50.”
Removing 40 songs from a list that big in order to compile an album is a hard thing to do, but the boys of Art Of Sleeping found the best way to go about it after months of decision making. “The five of us got together one night, we drank beer and we ate good food, and we refined that list,” Jarryd says.
“We argued and laughed, and we got to a point where we were all mutually happy.” The finished product was 'Shake Shiver', released in July, a fusion of flowing, rock-injected verses and catchy, heavy hooks. “It's headphone music,” Jarryd advises.
“On your bed with the lights off kind of music; that's how I grew up listening to music not having any other distractions, and it's how it should be listened to.”
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Up until this point, the band had only released an EP. Called 'Like A Thief', it was unleashed in 2012. It was a five-song keyhole into the breadth of their abilities; abilities which would be fully revealed three years later. “An album is like a statement, saying 'this is who we are', and it's giving the world permission to judge and critique your art which is strange,” Jarryd says.
“People expect more from an album, it's double the songs but probably four times the pressure.”
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Since the release of the album, the band has experienced something that made them truly realise their music had made it in Australia. “We always [have our music played] on 'The Block' and all those renovation shows, so we've pretty much become the reno-show band,” Jarryd laughs. “Not really sure why that happened.”
Fans of the band can expect fully-immersive shows with set-lists made for the songs that sound the best when played live. “We want [fans] to feel some kind of inspiration,” Jarryd says. “We're trying to create something that people feel.”
Art Of Sleeping play The Wooly Mammoth in Brisbane on 4 December, and support Boy & Bear at the Thebarton Theatre 29 January, 2016.
