Alternative-pop band Sleep House recently dropped their newest EP, High Tide. The three-song release combines the best elements of alternative rock and indie pop to create a unique blend that’s entirely unique to Sleep House.
We had the opportunity to speak with the band about the influences behind the EP, what’s next for them, and how High Tide came to be.
How does High Tide compare to your past releases?
“For High Tide, it was the first project where we came into it with a lot of confidence in how we wanted to produce the record. Our previous releases gave us a lot of learning experience when it comes to production, songwriting, and releasing a project. So when it came time for High Tide, there was less of a learning factor and more freedom to experiment in our sound.”
The Philly / NJ scene has been a cornerstone in the alternative genre, do you think this has impacted your music?
“It’s impacted us a lot when it comes to performing shows. A lot of the artists here do a great job of translating the energy of their songs from the studio to the stage, so whenever we rehearse we always make sure we do our best job in making our songs sound ten times better live.”
Do you have a favorite song on the EP? Why?
Nick M: “‘Clementine’ is my current at the moment. The song’s structure is very different than any of the songs we had written before, and it was a lot of fun experimenting with sounds and elements to connect all the sections together.”
G$: “My favorite song is the closing track, ‘You’re Still My Favorite Thing’. I love the feel of the track, and we had a great time, in the studio, expanding the song with a multitude of cool and weird synths.”
Adam: “I really like ‘Skydiving’ as well because the song is the most personal song to me, lyrically, and I think it highlights all of our individual skills as musicians as a whole. It’s very unique, as well, and is a very good cumulation of everything we can do as a band. “
Evan: “My favorite track changes every day, but right now it’s ‘You’re Still My Favorite Thing’. Our use of synths and the production on this song make it an overall amazing song for me.”
What was the writing and recording process for High Tide like?
“The process for making High Tide was a lot different than our previous releases. We knew we wanted to do a three-song EP, so we wrote a list all our unreleased music then narrowed it down till we found the match. When we did we were surprised by the pairing, because each of these songs were written at completely different points in our career. It became a fun challenge for us, taking songs like ‘Clementine’ that had been floating around since 2017, and re-writing them for the EP.”
Did you have any particular influences that aided in the creation of the EP?
“Our own life experiences always influence the music we write. Musically and visually, we really wanted to capture the spacious and evolving vibe of being in/by the ocean. So we started using weird percussion instruments like the wave drum, and rainsticks to capture that feel. We wanted to make as many of the sounds as possible without going on YouTube and finding samples.”
Is there a song on the EP you’re looking forward to playing live once shows start back up?
“We’re all looking forward to play ‘Skydiving In Dubai’!”
Are there any particular stories behind any of the songs, or the process of making them, that you’d like to share?
“‘Clementine’ was originally written back in 2017 under the name ‘Grace’. It had a lot of the core elements that are still in the song today, but we knew back then that we had to spend more time on it before we could release it. Once we decided to bring it back we had to rewrite the lyrics, and it became more of a conversation between us now and our younger selves. It took the longest to finish, but we feel like that song is what makes High Tide special.”
Aside from the release of High Tide, do you have anything coming up we should keep an eye out for?
“High Tide is just the beginning of what we have coming down the line. If anyone wants to keep up to date you can check out our website and follow us on our socials. We’re eagerly waiting to get back out there and play shows, but until then we just keep grinding on the music.”
High Tide shows us that Sleep House is a force to be reckoned with in the alternative scene. You can check out the EP below.
