Questions and Answers

The band's name is strike one: nothing's more pretentious than a gerund. Its tendency towards cutesy bridges and goofy tempo changes isn't a clean strike -- call it a foul tip, for strike two. But what keeps the Sleeping at the plate is its ability to take bits and pieces of everything from screamo to prog to post-rock to hardcore and turn them into a coherent and even compelling pop music whole. The hooks are what make it easy to forgive the waltz-time interlude on "Loud & Clear," and on "Heart Beatz," the stop-and-go rhythms actually work with the song rather than against it, building up a nice tension against the pretty, atmospheric guitar parts. Best of all is "The Climb," a song that puts serious complexity to work in support of its tunefulness; almost as good are a glorified football chant titled "King of Hearts," and a chunky midtempo shouter called "Dearest Mistake." The album ends on a puzzling note, with an attractive but egregiously overlong instrumental number that confirms the band's chops but brings up fresh doubts about its judgment. Recommended overall.