Wintersleep Share Two Songs From <i>New Inheritors</i>

BY Alex HudsonPublished Mar 23, 2010

In a recent interview with Exclaim!, Wintersleep front-man Paul Murphy revealed that his band's upcoming album would be called New Inheritors, and that its sound was "nothing crazy different" from the band's previous albums. Now, we can judge for ourselves, as the Halifax rockers are offering up a sneak preview of the title track, as well as album cut "Black Camera."

Murphy previously described the title track as a "Northern soul throwback," and you can hear this influence in the song's purring horns, buoyant bass line and gospel-infused organ. It's sleepier than you'd expect from such a description, however, as it's overlaid with a druggy haze of reverb and distorted guitar licks. Head over to Wintersleep.com where, in exchange for an email address, you'll receive a free MP3 download of the song.

Over on the band's MySpace, you can also hear the significantly more aggressive "Black Camera," which features punchy drums and spiky blasts of guitars. Murphy sounds for all the world like Michael Stipe and as he sneers oblique warnings such as "Don't act like it isn't your face," it's easy to imagine the track as a cut from R.E.M.'s 2008 album, Accelerate.

New Inheritors is due out on May 18, and in the meantime you can check out the cover art above. There's no word on a tracklist or record label, but it's likely that it will come out via Labwork, the same label that released 2007's Welcome to the Night Sky.

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