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SLEEPIN PILLOW

Psychedelic/Space Rock • Greece


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Sleepin Pillow biography
SLEEPIN PILLOW were formed as a six-piece outfit in Thessaloniki, Greece in 2004. They've had strong enthusiasm to play 'modern psychedelic rock blended with Greek and Eastern traditional music, with English lyrics'.

SLEEPIN PILLOW released their debut album 'Apples On An Orange Tree' via Shift Records in 2008, that could be appreciated as one of Top 5 of the best albums released in 2008 in Greece. 'Amplifier In My Heart', their first video clip, could be on airplay over and over in lots of local TV stations, and also other songs be heavily rotated in Greece.

Their second work 'Superman's Blues' was released in April 2010 - they're trying to win the peak of popularity all over the world.

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SLEEPIN PILLOW discography


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SLEEPIN PILLOW top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.38 | 7 ratings
Apples On An Orange Tree
2008
4.00 | 8 ratings
Superman's Blues
2010
3.67 | 3 ratings
The Past Is Already Here
2016

SLEEPIN PILLOW Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

SLEEPIN PILLOW Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

SLEEPIN PILLOW Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

SLEEPIN PILLOW Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

SLEEPIN PILLOW Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Superman's Blues by SLEEPIN PILLOW album cover Studio Album, 2010
4.00 | 8 ratings

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Superman's Blues
Sleepin Pillow Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by talha

4 stars This is the second album of Sleepin Pillow, which is my introduction to them.

I'd call this music psychedelic rock with a lot of qualities used from the ideas of modern progressive rock. The music is some bizarre child of Oceansize, Porcupine Tree and some stoner rock and psychedelia.

Energy on the most of the songs are great. Dominant bass guitar and atmospheric effects carry most of the songs on the first half.

The production and the way the layers and effects are used reminds me of Steven Wilson. Eastern rhythm instruments, electronic beats, a lot of production tricks differ them from a regular rock band to the likes of Porcupine Tree and other modern progressive rock bands.

This is a rock album that the main attention doesn't go to the guitars and the guitar playing. They are mostly simple rock guitars. But that doesn't mean that they're not used effectively. Sometimes they set the atmosphere by distortion effects and sometimes near-to-explode feeling with clean guitar playing. But the atmospheres are mostly set with the great keyboard use.

Another thing that reminds me Porcupine Tree on this album is the vocals. The vocalist sings his lines with muddy voice on some songs like "Pathetic". Since the music sometimes turns into atmospheric rock and metal , the vocal has to change the style radically. The vocal is not very capable to sing strongly on heavy moments of the album as well as on mellower moments. Wish there was more epic singing on these powerful moments. The overall vocals are mostly soft and melancholic. We even hear some whispering here and there.

As the albums flows to the second half, the music gets a little bit progger with wierd songs like "A Big Circle". This song is based on some brass and string instruments, it's pretty symphonic. But there's always a robotic voice talking with some numbers, and some signals that probably talk in morse is always there. The song ends, the morse signals continue a little bit into another song, which is mostly instrumental with a lot of electronic effects. The song is called "Masterpiece". The ending is very strong with the vocals, distortion guitars, keyboards and rock drumming involved. The next song "Simple Words of Truth" has also a great atmosphere. The melodies and music is more meloncholic. I enjoyed it very much.

The thing missing for this to be a true prog rock album is the general composition technics, which does not vary and get out of verse-chorus-verse much. Though I like some of the proggy bridges a lot, like on the half of the song "Dope".There are some songs that work as bridges, the album overall is pretty proggy, but I still have a feeling that this band tries to be commercial and prog together. Though that doesn't mean they make great albums. I have this soft spot for prog or avant-garde music as they sound like "more art" to me, but even for me, there's no need to dream this album to be progger, so I'll just enjoy what I have. And what I have is strong music with much emotion, mostly sadness and anger, presented very well. The flow of the songs and the material is strong enough to enjoy this musical journey throughout. So if you want to listen to an album of great atmospheres and production with nice melodies, I recommend this one.

 Superman's Blues by SLEEPIN PILLOW album cover Studio Album, 2010
4.00 | 8 ratings

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Superman's Blues
Sleepin Pillow Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by Conor Fynes
Prog Reviewer

4 stars 'Superman's Blues' - Sleepin Pillow (8/10)

Although the creative peak of psychedelic rock occurred shortly after it was pioneered in the latter half of the 60s, the style has persisted, albeit in different forms. There are still bands that keep the vintage torch alive, but I feel that the most promising modern incarnation of psychedelia comes in the form of bands like Porcupine Tree, and now Sleepin (sic) Pillow, a band from Greece. Releasing their debut a few years to some positive response across the board, 'Superman's Blues' shows them making another powerful statement. Already early on in their career, they are able to create vivid atmosphere with their music that keeps me wanting more from them.

Sleepin Pillow grace themselves with a very modern sound, as far as psych rock goes. There are only traces of classic trip-music here; parallels are much more easily drawn instead to other modern artists in alternative rock, most notably Radiohead, with whom this band shares many traits. Particularly in their inventive use of sounds and textures to create atmosphere, Sleepin Pillow makes a very strong impression. There is futuristic ambiance ('The Big Circle'), dark alt rock ('Silicone', 'Masterpiece') and even a brooding sitar passage with 'Superman Sings The Blues'. Suffice to say, the band keeps their listeners engaged from beginning to end, with so many great ideas inspiring me to listen more intently. The songwriting of the music is a little less impressive than their craftsmanship with atmosphere, but the songs themselves here are ones that are quickly memorable. Many songs here hold the same sense of melancholia I hear with Porcupine Tree, although the main noticeable difference is the singer, who may be aiming for the same effect as Steven Wilson, but his voice passes me as being a tad monotonous and dry. All the same, it fits the rather solemn vibe that some of these songs resonate.

'Superman's Blues' is not yet seeing Sleepin Pillow perfect their sound, but if my intuition is worth anything, I see Sleepin Pillow becoming one of Greece's premier progressive acts. They have a great deal of potential, and even now, parts of their sound have already been rounded up to a point where I am completely satisfied. Psychedelic rock certainly isn't what it used to be, but as far as Sleepin Pillow go, I would not say that's necessarily a bad thing.

 Apples On An Orange Tree by SLEEPIN PILLOW album cover Studio Album, 2008
3.38 | 7 ratings

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Apples On An Orange Tree
Sleepin Pillow Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by Starless

3 stars Sleepin Pillow, a Greek psych band with a big expansive sound released this, their first album in 2008. Aiming to create "modern psychedelic rock blended with Greek and Eastern traditional music, with English lyrics", this they do with a certain amount of style.

They possess a sound that is all indie rock and spaciness, while eastern strings conjure desert vistas. "There's an amplifier in my heart, feeds an ancient fire in my heart" as it should. A lot of modern psych takes early Black Sabbath as its template and seems to come from a heavy metal place rather than what to this mind is the true source of psych rock, as exemplified by this group. More predicated on English indie, with the bass sound in particular reminiscent of early Cure, combined with a healthy early Floyd presence, and with more than a smidgeon of 13th Floor Elevators to add to the potent brew, this group tick all the right psych boxes for me.

Drug is suitably woozy, and Motherhood has a spooky vibe that along with Winter Dreams forms the high point of the album to these ears, the latter combining those Eastern strings again, with synth swoops and percussion creating a suitable backdrop for the`dreamy and breathy vocals. Throughout its seven and a half minutes Winter Dreams takes you somewhere else, and given the conditions in modern day Greece it's no wonder the band want to transport themselves and the listener to a Utopian idyll. Gorgeous!

"You ain't gonna go far" & "You're the son of a gun", our protagonist is the Apple On An Orange Tree of the title track, an ode to the perennial outsider, a rock'n'roll staple declaimed over a rousing coda, given that extra edge by the occasional and mournful strings. Slow builder Once heads for Secret Machines territory and is the most straight thing here. not to say it is bad, it isn't, but it is not the best fit with the rest of the album. The last two tracks, the lovely mainly acoustic and fuzzy round the edges Spell, followed by the very odd Hail Messiah form a fitting end to an interesting and engaging debut album.

Commercial enough to sell, strange enough to appeal, Sleepin Pillow have delivered a fine piece of work. The album is very well produced and the sound is as clear as a bell throughout. Some nice original ideas combine with traditional Greek inspiration, an obvious love of English indie music, and psychedelia from all over the place to produce a likeable debut from the six piece from Thessaloniki. Right, now I've got to sit down and listen to the follow up, 2010's Superman's Blues...watch this space...inner and outer...

 Superman's Blues by SLEEPIN PILLOW album cover Studio Album, 2010
4.00 | 8 ratings

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Superman's Blues
Sleepin Pillow Psychedelic/Space Rock

Review by DamoXt7942
Forum & Site Admin Group Avant/Cross/Neo/Post Teams

4 stars SLEEPIN PILLOW are a promising Greek psychedelic progressive rock outfit that could win a popularity among Greek rock fans with their debut album "Apples On An Orange Tree" released in 2008. Although they have belonged to popular rock scene in Greece, they may be seeking after something of worldwide breakthrough, I always feel via their second album "Superman's Blues", more trippy, more garage-y than the previous one.

You can find some catchy flavour especially upon the title track (maybe) for popular appeal, but mysteriously and amazingly, they cannot go along with "pure popularity" so to speak. Please listen to the first and second one, and you can be punched out by their heavy fuzz with psychedelic texture stirring our brain patchily. Their melody lines can be more of mainstream than other Psychedelic Prog / Space Rock bands' but that's not all ... not only the way to be enjoyed easily but to push their strong intention for mixture of Greek and Eastern traditional psychedelic rock, they may understand I imagine.

Tremendous stream between "A Big Circle" and "Masterpiece" there is. Upon the former kick, voices with bulky effect can invade into and shake our liver ... very painful psychedelia. By the latter one our ears can get remarkable inflammation, that won't be removed easily. And the last track "Superman's Singing The Blues" is another (and the real) masterpiece in this creation ... Exactly based on the Oriental sitar-sounded background, a quiet and solemn psychedelic show goes on, with simple guitar phrases and drum beats. You can feel very happy under the Greek green air produced by SLEEPIN PILLOW.

A great work indeed.

Thanks to DamoXt7942 for the artist addition.

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