Chicago ain’t sleepwalking – it’s wide awake and snarling. Sleeps While Walking, rightly crowned “the real deal” by A&R Factory, just dropped a new payload of pure, uncut tension. Their single “Hollowman” is a skilfully crafted assault on the senses, a definitive masterclass in their self-styled grungegaze. This track abducts your skull, stares you down, and forces you to absorb every devastating, beautiful ounce of its weight.
Marking a sharp left turn from their home-studio debut, “Hollowman” is Sleeps While Walking’s first salvo from the professional crucible of Chicago’s Echo Mill. Ghostly synth vapours and fragile piano lines drift like cold breath overhead, weaving an unsettling, almost pretty atmosphere. But lurking beneath is a tectonic shift of dark, grinding guitars and a bassline thick enough to fracture pavement. The only thing holding this glorious, precarious tension together are drums that sound less like percussion and more like declarations of war. They hit with primal force, a constant, punishing reminder of the emotional vortex you’re being sucked into.
“Hollowman” lasers in on a uniquely modern agony: the soul-crushing loneliness of being utterly invisible in a crowd. That disconnect, that echoing hollowness amidst the noise –They’ve transmuted it into a darkly infectious anthem. It’s accessible enough to hook you, yet uncompromisingly heavy enough to leave bruises. Melodic, yet menacing.
Sleeps While Walking is a band we damn want everyone to check out. “Hollowman” is their most potent brew yet – a polished, professional recording that somehow shows that grungegaze isn’t just alive; it’s evolving, thrashing, and breathing fire right out of Chicago. This is a cathartic detonation for anyone who’s ever screamed silently in a packed room. Let the synths lift you while the rhythm section crushes you. Surrender to the beautiful, brutal contradiction. The follow-up EP can’t come soon enough. Consider your attention officially commanded.
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