by David Haynes (@shooshlord)
There’s something refreshing about truly bizarre records. They feel otherworldly. You don’t have to approach them with the same frame of reference. We all know and love Steely Dan, but is your conception of reality threatened by “Dirty Work” or “Reelin’ In The Years?” Just like a good horror or sci-fi movie, outside-the-box albums can make us see the world in new ways. While The Gerbils clearly took influence from The Beatles, Beach Boys, and 60s psychedelia, Are You Sleepy is a ramshackle pop record that defies genre boundaries in favor of catchy, weird songwriting.
As we grow up, we often lose that childlike wonder that is a staple of our younger years. Songs like “Sunshine Soul,” the album’s opener, help us to reconnect with that lost half of our selves. Overdriven acoustic guitars, detuned leads, and off kilter drumming create this swirling, homespun atmosphere for Scott Spillane’s creepy images of young love. In the second verse, he sings, “My cup is filled with sewage / Spilling brains into your mouth / My cup is filled with arachnids / They crawl all over in your house.” It’s a love song full of gross, horrific images, and sets the tone of the record perfectly.
A personal favorite of mine has always been “Crayon Box.” It’s catchy, and if you’re a young fan of independent music you can’t help but get excited by the mention of bands like Portastatic and Sebadoh. It’s probably the most upbeat song on the record, and again is full of youthful jealousy and envy. Again, the question “Am I a child or just a crayon in your filthy hand?” is one of teenage sincerity. It’s a question we continue to ask ourselves throughout our life – are the people I love just using me for something else? Spillane masterfully encapsulates that anxiety in “Crayon Box.”
Just into the second half, “Glue” is perhaps the crowning achievement of this record. After the bubbling, droning weirdness of “Wet Host,” Spillane’s plaintive voice and clean, but percussive guitar take us into a different world. It’s a drug-addled break up song, complete with some of the weirdest images on this record. For instance, Spillane sings “She's calling me to come to her and curl inside her womb / I hear lies, acid too / But I won't die, the pain is so beautiful / The urge is so real, it smells like glue.” There are a lot of overtly sexual lyrics in the Elephant 6 canon, and this one might be the most bizarre. Yet, the strangeness of these lines makes it an incredible piece of poetry. It’s relatable, yet conceptually just outside of our grasp. Spillane is a master of that juxtaposition.
Throughout the record, the drum sounds change with almost every track. On “Walnuts,” the snare drum almost sounds like a pot or pan turned upside down. Spillane really gives one of his finest vocal performances of the record on this song. He howls when he sings, “She brings me walnut pies and / Places them on the window sill / To cool beside my heart / That's icy cold and drying in the sun / Crying everyone.” There’s no shortage of food metaphors on this record, and this one feels ripe with conflict. This song is perhaps the climax of the record, where Spillane seems to be unveiling perhaps the grand “meaning” of the record. These lyrics show us how the narrator wants to be loved, and yet the “icy cold” heart prevents the full benefits of that love. It’s a battle that has raged throughout this album, and on “Walnuts” the struggle is blatantly obvious.
Finally, “Grin” is a work of oddball genius. From it’s “player piano” opening to the echoing repeats of the lyrics, it takes the good parts of bands like The Beatles and The Kinks and pushes them into the weirder side of psychedelia. Once again, there’s that juxtaposition of the lovely and the strange. Spillane sings, “Your lips / your teeth are / made from clay / when I see them I want to stay.” The “made from clay” line seems a direct reference to the biblical creation of Adam & Eve, and yet it also seems like something out of a 60s horror movie. A body slowly morphing into clay and melting. With an insanely catchy melody and dreamy guitar hooks, Spillane & Co end this record with an absolutely stunning, gorgeous pop song.
I was eighteen when I first heard Are You Sleepy. A friend of mine showed me In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, and I immediately started digging into the Elephant 6 catalog. Along with of Montreal’s Cherry Peel, Are You Sleepy stands out as a collection of vibrantly weird indie pop songs. It’s the type of record that feels absolutely rooted in the DIY and independent scenes of the 1990s, yet also hearkens back to 60s and 70s rock records. In that way, it’s timeless. I never thought I would own this record, as the limited original pressings were getting harder and harder to find but Elephant 6 has just reissued this record. I encourage anyone looking to scratch the itch for weirdo pop to give Are You Sleepy a spin. You won’t be the same afterwards.