Sleep Eaters – ‘Life of Sin’

A haunting beauty hidden in a psychobilly stomper.

London quintet Sleep Eaters bring psychobilly/garage country into the modern age with their latest single release ‘Life of Sin‘. The Gun Club springs to mind when hearing this song for the first time with its jangle-country guitar riff with the wailing beauty of the lap-steel that creates the same melancholic energy that is spread across the Miami record. 

But what stands out more than anything on ‘Life of Sin’ is William Atkins vocals. He sings in a deep, poetic and forlorn manner that nods towards Jefferey Lee Pierce and Nick Cave. But it’s not only Atkin’s vocals that have the Nick Cave inspired quality to them – the band play as tight as The Bad Seeds and ‘Life of Sin’ could have appeared on ‘Henry’s Dream, Do You Love Me or Murder Ballads. Furthermore, Sleep Eaters manage to condense what is brilliant about Nick Cave’s 15-minute epic songs into less than three-minutes. It’s perfect.

‘Life of Sin’ is the first single release ahead of Sleep Eaters debut EP Holy Days. If you love Jefferey and Nick as much as I do, you will want to make sure you give ‘Life of Sin’ and the EP a thorough listen.

Words by Matthew Brocklehurst

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Debut EP ‘Holy Days’ out 9 August via PNKSLM Recordings

Sleep Eaters tour dates
20 Sep - Studio 9294 - London
16 Oct - Heartbreakers - Southampton*
17 Oct - The Portland Arms - Cambridge*
24 Oct - The Boileroom - Guildford*
25 Oct - Metronome - Nottingham*
26 Oct - The Sound House - Dublin*
29 Oct - Komedia - Brighton*
* supporting Flamingods