By all accounts, The Sleepy Strange is Japancakes' magnum opus. The sophomore album is largely a return to form for the sextet, falling much more in line with the collected spirit of Dallas than the experimental edge of Down. But Sleepy is a large improvement over the debut. Letting their wilder tendencies out on Down worked magic for the band, who are now more focused and determined than ever. It's readily apparent from the start of the album that Japancakes are writing music with increased sophistication and subtlety than every before. What this spells out over forty-five minutes is a truly moving experience.
Japancakes is back again defying genre labels. Down sufficiently proved that they could hang with the trendy musicians any day of the week, but Sleepy is a return to what the band does best -- making music that they personally enjoy. This is perhaps the most tangible feeling I get when I listen to the album -- that the band is loving the process of creating this album. It's pretty clear that some of their works are absolutely essential to the development of some of our favorite bands around these parts. From front to back, Japancakes delivers awe-inspiring music and there's no filler to be found here. Sleepy contains some of the finer moments of the band's career, specifically thinking of "Disconnect the Cables," "This Year's Beat," and "Soft N EZ."
Stylistically, Japancakes is much evolved from their debut. While Dallas was certainly a versatile listen in this regard, it was, at times, very cluttered with different styles and/or moods. Sleepy, by contrast, is a more focused album. This is perhaps one of the benefits of the Down sessions; in the process of creating specifically experimental track, this honed the band's song-writing technique to a sharp point. Sleepy is undoubtedly the benefactor, as the tracks are all the more robust and endearing. They grab ahold of the listener all the more willingly and refuse to let go, despite never actually making a real attempt to do so. This is subtlety in action. In many ways, after listening to the first two discs, it becomes evident that this was a goal of the band from the beginning, but it's not fully realized until this all important third CD.
Another result of this transformation of song-writing prowess is the smoothness of the arrangements. Previously I had mentioned that Dallas had some awkward moments of instruments simultaneously vying for attention. This issue is resolved in Sleepy, most noticeably by the cello's wonderful contribution through the album. Strings can be quite an effective addition to the sonic landscape if used effectively, and Sleepy is a shining example of how awesome cellos can sound and bolster a recording. This goes back to those key descriptors that encompass the band, things like honestly, earnestness, pleasing, and, of course, the ever present naturalness of their sound. "Vinyl Fever" is the only track that might possibly escape such a categorization, bringing with it a (relatively) exotic dub flair, but at the same time offering what is arguably a very natural ending to the album.
Seven years later, Sleepy is just as powerful and exciting today as it was upon its initial release. In a genre that is historically celebrated by innovation and progression of musical ideas, there are very few albums that really last through the years and don't get replaced by an updated version of itself down the road. The depth of the album coupled with the unique style and creative spirit makes Sleepy a long time favorite, as well as a returning gem. I'd go so far as to say this album should be considered for any list of "landmark" instrumental albums of the past two decades. It's really that good.
The most remarkable thing of Japancakes' career is that the band has never made the same CD twice. Despite the triumph of Sleepy, the band hasn't really revisited that exact template again. Belmondo was the expansion and development of the work on Down the Elements that mirrored the transitions between Dallas and Sleepy. Waking Hours again makes a change, and it is the band's most classically motivated and minimal album. Their most recent, Giving Machines seems to be an effort to reconcile a lot of the different stylistic threads that have existed in the band into a singular musical node. While the album is undoubtedly a success, I also think it was overkill in the sense that every Japancakes album has been distinctly different, yet still very much connected to the other albums. Such a centering work is often beneficial for artists who are all over the place, but, if every Japancakes album was not immediately predictable from their past work, it was a logically sound step in the right direction.
On a personal note, this retrospective look at the band has really increased my appreciation of their music. What I would have previously considered a "good" band, I'll now splurge for "great," and, given the right context, the argument can be made that they have created some essential music for instrumental enthusiasts. It's not easy to create a distinct voice in the instrumental world, but Japancakes has done so. They've added life to a genre in a way few could have predicted, and shown that when creativity and skilled musician combine forces, great things are bound to happen. Kudos to Darla for bringing Japancakes' work back into the spotlight.
Japancakes has also stood the test of time. Their career has been dedicated to expanding their craft, connecting with the listener, and always giving us something exciting to listen to, but also easy to digest at the same moment. Even in the band's most experimental phases, there's always been a push to make it enjoyable over impressive, though the latter rarely fails to prove itself either. Whereas many instrumental bands are content to flame up and then quickly burn out, Japancakes have survived over a decade, and by all indications, their best work may still be ahead of them. This isn't a band who has found its niche and will settle for playing to its current fan base for the rest of its career. Rather, Japancakes is a band who has found its voice and is constantly figuring out new ways of expressing themselves through different outlets.
The future is wide open to Japancakes. With every new album, fans are generally assured that they'll get something they haven't heard from the band before, but it's still going to be recognizably a "Japancakes" album, and with that it carries the experience and mastery of their craft that is always being perfected and reworked. Even if the the small movement they were apart of during the turn of the century never picked up steam quite the way it should have, Japancakes is still going strong half a decade later and they're now better than ever. A rising star, if ever there was one.
-Jordan Volz