Sleep Station - After The War

War is a dirty, smelly, noisy, nasty thing. So should be a concept album about war, right? Nope. Says who? Sleep Station, that’s who. And as exhibit-A they give you After the War, an album written from front to back about World War II. But rather than leave you shell-shocked with bombast simulating battlefield racket and chaos, they take a more introspective approach. Written primarily from an emotional standpoint, the album deals with the loss, longing and confusion war can bring to an individual. After the War doesn’t stick to a standard cinematic arc, as concept albums often do. Instead, each song is taken from a different person’s perspective during WWII. We hear from a soldier dealing with his separation from loved ones (“A Soldier to His Son”, “A Final Prayer 2”), a couple fearing the end in a London bomb shelter (“Caroline, London 1940”) and an abandoned wife pining for the safe return of her husband (“Waiting”). And though the album carries a very consistent feel, almost all of the tracks, with the exception of a handful of segues, stand on their own as somber-pop gems. “After the War,” “Caroline, London 1940” and “Burden to You” are all stunning in their own right beyond any binding subject matter or context. The other striking thing about After the War is its overall warmth. Reportedly recorded using as much vintage equipment as possible, some of it dating back to the 1940’s, the album is as warm as anything these ears have heard from a digital medium. While this tone contradicts the violence evoked by the subject matter, it does help convey the sadness underlying each of the album’s stories. Though it does suffer a bit from the lack of variation in its instrumental approach, After the War is poignant and emotionally gripping throughout. It’s not a history lesson or an overt political statement but rather a glimpse at war from more of a molecular level than the grand scale idea to which we’re commonly exposed. And a good one at that. [www.sleep-station.com]