Landing soon!
Debut outing from The Sleeves, the duo of Jack Cooper and Tara Cunningham that has grown out of the current iteration of Modern Nature. Cunningham's introduction to that parent band was a quietly revelatory one, her guitar playing supple and inventive in ways that aligned perfectly with Cooper's characteristically elliptical post-rock informed folk songwriting, and it's that understanding that they explore here to arguably even greater effect. This is a guitar record in that there are only guitars on this record, guitars of the kind you might have typically associated with the late 90s of both Bristol and Chicago, which is to say jazz, kraut and/or folk informed post-rock which doesn't follow conventional notions of structure but isn't shy of melody either. Modern Nature are hardly a loud band, but The Sleeves are a purposefully quiet one, the hushed intersection of both members' vocals highly reminiscent of the intimate slowcore of Low, an encouraging of the listener to lean in and tune out the rest of the world. In 2026, quiet most certainly is not the new loud (if only, blowhards), so when a band chooses to be like this, recording as if to not risk waking up the rest of the house, it stands as a gentle of act of defiance that shows great confidence in its own voice. You know what also whispers? The wind. And just try stopping that.
FFO: Low, Movietone, The Sea and Cake, Tortoise, Able Noise
