Montreal-based project blind dogs of the sun craft a consuming sound on their new album This City Never Sleeps, succeeding in its blend of trip-hop haze, progressive rock energy, and intriguing electronic atmospherics. Steadily evolving soundscapes and wonderfully moody vocal dynamics are mainstays throughout the release, which presents a fantastic, cohesive listening experience.
The album’s title track opens as a gripping display of the project’s grasp of both intriguing atmosphere and climactic structural prowess. Vintage, warming crackling and a pulsing electronic intrigue coexist with chilly captivation, then venturing into solemn guitar tones that further bolster the delectably eerie spaciousness. A ghostly vocal precision laments with spine-tingling allure as pit-pattering percussion and murmuring tones emerge, with the rhythmic element and cavernous, nocturnal soundscape crafting a trip-hop familiarity. “Fall from the light,” the vocals ascend, later unveiling a riveting second half with trickling guitars, electronic flourishes, and heady rhythms — aesthetically achieving a relative likeness to acts like Portishead and Massive Attack while still emitting ample originality.
The songs within This City Never Sleeps unfold with patient artfulness, with dynamic tonal displays often prevalent. Right away, “To The Blind” follows the opener with a dreamy, glimmering pop intrigue; its subsequent swell into a textured production with soaring vocals and starry-eyed synth tones is wholly affecting and smoothly accomplished. A more rousing rock-touched ardor also delights in the final minute. Another standout track, “Vespertine” initially weaves solemn organs and siren effects as smoky vocals build into a gorgeous string-laden resonance. “Wrap me away and walk away,” the vocals immerse as comforting bass complements playful keys. A soulful, string-forward moodiness then persists into a rousing rock-forward outro, finding a consuming balance between hypnotic trip-hop atmospherics and haunting, electric rock layers.
The project’s narrative-laden abilities also show on “Midnight,” where sounds of a loving couple in the early morning venture into jangling guitars and lush vocal introspections. Caressing keys and suave percussion arrive alongside the riveting vocals, mesmerizing with harmonious layering as the one-minute turn passes and a dreamy pop enchantment takes hold. As is a tendency throughout the album, the track’s final minute is a stunner as well, embracing the darker rock realms in its sludgy distortion and mystique-filled guitar crawls. Ensuing track “Adenosine” succeeds in another world entirely, merging unsettling bites of consumerism-minded samples with icy-cold electronic atmospherics — resembling a otherworldly, uncanny-valley spookiness.
Amongst the album’s many satiating structural evolutions, “Far From Here…” is especially stellar in its steadfast momentum. Thick bass and mellow keys accompany a subdued vocal presence, simmering into swirling guitars as “I really want you to know” dark vocal beckoning escalates into a flourishing ethereality. The track’s mid-point is commanding in its brisk guitar strums and airy synth touches, balancing lushness and passion across an enthralling second half. This City Never Sleeps consistently envelops with its evolving tonal palettes and eclectic influences, marking a thorough success from blind dogs of the sun.
