'Glorious Times' for Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Exploring the world of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is like delving into the works of David Lynch—the more you know about it, the less you feel like you understand it. Learning more will only leave you with more questions, and you're only option is to return to the music again and again, picking up something new every time you hear it but rarely grasping more than you already knew.



Sleepytime's music is hard to describe because there's not much to compare them to. They're as theatrical as Nick Cave and as unpredictable as Mr. Bungle, and they're also one of the most distinct ensembles making music today. Of course, their originality wouldn't be worth considering if their music didn't rock so much--see their new album, In Glorious Times.

In Glorious Times is probably the least-heavy of all their albums, although it's no more accessible than their previous releases, Of Natural History and Grand Opening and Closing. In Glorious Times is also the most album-like record they've made yet--if one were to listen to the whole thing on one track, a la Prince's Lovesexy, it'd be difficult to make out where some tracks end and others begin. In the ominous opener "The Companions," singer/guitarist Nils Frykdahl croons over a glockenspiel and what sounds like a ticking clock (or is it a time bomb?) in a 10-minute epic which takes on a chaotic, percussion-dominated turn before subsiding into calmness. But lest the listener get comfortable, SGM hits from all sides with "Helpless Corpses Enactment," a beast equipped with some of the most aggressive violin playing you're likely to ever hear (courtesy of the inimitable Carla Kihlstedt) and rapidly barked lyrics reoccupied from Finnegan's Wake (courtesy of the inimitable James Joyce, who seems considerably less pretentious and easier to get through when applied to relentless drumming and 12-string guitar).



Sleepytime's inability to fit into a set style of music makes their records a blast to hear. As with their previous albums, In Glorious Times has no safety zone. One could relax while listening to portions of "Angle of Repose" or "The Salt Crown," and start a mosh pit other parts of the same songs. A lesser outfit would seem unfocused creating such adventuresome music, but Sleepytime Gorilla Museum are successful in making it sound natural. This isn't a group of musicians saying, "Look at how weird we can be by wearing costumes and playing bizarre, homemade instruments!"

So what makes the Museum succeed where others, including SGM labelmates Stolen Babies (whom SGM bassist Dan Rathburn produced), Kihlstedt's enjoyable but inconsistent project The Book of Knots (which, in fairness, was alternately botched and boosted by its guest artists), and parts of Björk's newest album have stumbled? The answer's in the music: Sleepytime don't just sound exciting and inventive, their songs themselves are exciting. Tracks like 'The Ossuary' would sound great no matter how they're arranged, and that's an even more significant reason behind Sleepytime's greatness than the fact that they play instruments like an 'electric pancreas' or a 'nyckelharpa.'

To paraphrase Cypress Hill, "Sleepytime Gorilla Museum live this shit."