PREMIERE: COUCHSLEEPERS - "SLEEPLESS"

Burlington, VT-based indie rock band Couchsleepers make soft and mellow music with a bittersweet twist. They’ve released a fourth single from their new album Only When It’s Dark, entitled “Sleepless,” which starts with the sound of light rain and highlights the vocal and lyrical ability of frontman Harrison Wood Hsiang. 

The rain carries throughout the song and acts as a backdrop to Hsiang’s soft-spoken, melancholy lyrics about a longing that keeps you up at night. The song slowly builds with piano dancing alongside a creeping guitar until a moment of intensity breaks through the surface and bursts with emotion towards the end. With heartbreaking sincerity, the song is sure to be enjoyed by fans of confessional indie forefathers like Broken Social Scene and Death Cab for Cutie. Over email, Hsiang described the writing process behind the track.

The melody from "Sleepless" found its way into my head on a rainy, restless night two summers ago and I spent the next few days unraveling the story that accompanied it. I've taken to calling it a "too-late love song". "Sleepless" is the last track on our upcoming record Only When It's Dark, despite being the first song written of that batch. It's an appropriate way to end the album, which is so often preoccupied with loneliness, distance, and the restlessness of late nights — I feel like the perspective given in "Sleepless" finally sees that these things are expressions of beauty through loss.

I can't sleep again. Sounds likes the sky is coming down outside. It's drowning out this restless time and you're on my mind. I thought the distance might have kept you but I've missed you since I left you even more. So if I drove those thirty miles then would you grin? Lose the teeth and pull a smile and let me in? Wrap me in your arms and ask, "How have you been?" Well, I've been fine but I sleep much worse without you, babe, I sleep much worse without you. And I've been trying and I know that how we left things wasn't good at all but hear this and you should recall the times that we've had. When we danced in the rain together, hey, the weather wasn't ever all that bad. So when I drive these thirty miles then will you grin? Pour some chai and then say, "Hi, how have you been?" Maybe, darling, would you kiss me once again? 'Cause I've been trying. But I sleep much worse without you, babe, I sleep much worse without you. I can't sleep so I'm dreaming. I'm writing songs I'll never sing to you — I know the wrongs I did to you are done. So are we. But while you're fast asleep and far away you've got me sleepless, thinking, Babe, you are driving me wild. You are. And know I sleep much worse without you, babe, I sleep much worse without you. Harrison Wood Hsiang — Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Organ Max Shashoua — Drums, Bass Mike Nunziante — Slide guitar Emily Shearman — Vocals Jacob Shashoua — Vocals Liam Lundal — Vocals Music and Lyrics by Harrison Wood Hsiang. Recorded by Harrison Wood Hsiang, except harmonies, recorded by Max Shashoua in LA. Produced and Mixed by Harrison Wood Hsiang. Mastered by Jacob McCaslin.

TOUR DATES:

02/22 — Burlington, VT with Alpacka
02/29 — Vassar College
03/06 — Burlington, VT with Will Orchard, Alpacka
03/07 — Middlebury College with Alpacka
03/10 — Boston, MA
03/11 — New Haven, CT with Ports of Spain, Among the Acres
03/12 — New York, NY
03/21 — Burlington, VT with Hush Club, Alpacka
04/06 — Boston, MA with Will Orchard

Only When It’s Dark is out on February 28th. Pre-order it here.

THIS ARTICLE WAS GRACIOUSLY CONTRIBUTED BY:

Liam Creaser is a senior at the University of Vermont who writes and edits for their alternative newsmag The Water Tower. Follow him on Twitter @liam_creaser.