Flowing architect Tom Doyle, also known as The Neon Sea, has released a darker single, "Sleepwalker". This most recent offering charts a course through Alternative Rock, Post-Punk, and Shoegaze to form a hazy yet gritty soundscape.
Following up their debut "As I Wonder" with a more direct dive into raw emotion and atmospheric intensity, "Sleepwalker" picks up palpable momentum into its next phases. The song throbs with shadowy guitar riffs, persistent basslines and a vocal delivery that feels both faraway and strained like a fitful dream you can’t wake up from. There’s an inescapable urgency to the song, a trance-inducing property that grips you from the start and doesn’t release you.
Lyrically, Sleepwalker finds itself dabbling in archetypal subject matter again, akin to the sensation of floating through day to day life in a half assed, ethereal trance. It’s a song that captures the essence of the contemporary existential haze, all ensconced in reverb-soaked guitars and motorik rhythms. Its dozens of composers are like ghosts of post-punk past, returning to separate the sound from their era, while feeling real and fresh for now, and it’s perfectly gritty, yet balanced with melody in the production.
With The Neon Sea, The Neon Sea firmly establishes itself as a rising power within the alternative scene. This is the kind of track that plays in your head long after the last chord drifts away a murky, daydream that needs to be repeated.
