Iress once again blesses us with another dose of beautiful sonic depression on their new album Sleep Now, In Reverse (Church Road Records). The Los Angeles-based band weaves between genres drifting between darker ominous tones ranging from emotionally heavy to lighter breezy speculation. This is displayed in “Ever Under” which takes you soaring into the sunset from the haunted places in the Hollywood Hills. Dynamically once again everything is perfect. Michelle Malley’s vocals lurk around the corner of grunge-influenced riffage recalling bands like Curve or Lush rather than the doomy zip codes they once occupied. This album finds Malley’s vocals sitting up front in the mix as more of a focal point than the more atmospheric texture they once created.
This is not to say that if you are a fan of their previous work, this is going to sound like the band is selling out or pandering for radio play. In fact, by making the vocals more of a focal point, they are phrased in a more articulated fashion so that the powerful nature of the content adds to the song’s intensity. The dreamier haze to “Mercy” is pulled together by Malley putting lung power to the chorus. This song is more atmosphere and driven with less rock intention, though still delivering more punch than some of their sonic peers like Emma Ruth Rundle who ventures into genres like folk. It plays to the band’s favor to stick to their guns as it creates a more melancholic longing.
The drums find an almost Police-influenced groove on “Leviathan,” though the eighties influences end there, since if you had to pin a decade to them it would be the nineties, they are not trying to recreate a particular sound, and while things sound quite delightful here they are more committed to songwriting. However, the soft-to-loud dynamic that bands like Deftones continue to carry the torch for, is also celebrated here. The key is that this is executed unpredictably rather than a set formula, which many bands default to. The bonus here is Malley’s hushed alto proves to be quite supple, as her voice reaches into new melodic corners.
This album might be another step away from metal, but it does balance a depressive atmosphere that translates into something more sonically heavy with the vocals as a counterpoint to that. The finesse of their drummer gives her plenty of catchy grooves to layer her beguiling melodies over that sometimes erupt in a more cathartic fashion. The drummer does lay into the cymbals when it’s time to get serious. The overall vibe of the album is less of an oppressive doom mood, though there are more intentionally metal moments one of them can be heard on “Knell Mera” though they take you on a journey with impressive dynamic breadth. Things take a different turn for the last two songs that work off more of a brooding tension, like a distant storm inching closer to the storm as the dusk settles, with her voice serving as the rain that falls to create the dynamic release. This album feels like a mature step forward for the band as songwriters.
Buy the album here:
https://weareiress.bandcamp.com/album/sleep-now-in-reverse
9 / 10
WIL CIFER