The world is a lot smaller than we think, and occasionally it’s even smaller within the spaces we frequent. Enter: Sleep Tactics, the post-hardcore/math rock outfit some will find both familiar and new at the same time. Or, it could be something we’ve all overlooked in our zeal to scroll past to the next thing. But this is well worth anyone & everyone’s attention.

Sleep Tactics was originally conceived as a solo vehicle for guitarist & vocalist Dan Smith (ex-Fight Amp), and released a self-titled album back in 2019. The music garnered some critical acclaim, and it seems the stage was set. While the conception of the Philadelphia outfit was probably never meant to be a full-fledged band per se, things changed with a full band after a brief run of live shows the same year, Smith began work on a follow-up during the pandemic.

With a new revitalized lineup, now featuring drummer Caleb Kerr, bassist Ariel Golden, and guitarist Cameron Davidson, recording new music. The band began recording in June 2021, but no further information has been shared aside from the fact that a new album is certainly coming later this year. Sleep Tactics is sure to return with its most ambitious material to date.

Today, the band shares the new single “The Laughing Hearts,” which in-of-itself, is genre-defying with rising and falling crescendos, flaunting with dynamics and spacey rhythms surrounded by sharp, atmospheric guitar work.

Of the song Dan offers:

This song came together relatively easily during the lockdown of 2020. I thought it was a hard-hitting representation of our new record – which is nearly impossible to represent, because all the songs are wildly different micro-worlds that you will want to change your permanent address to.Lyrically, the song is simultaneously about reconciling my nature, and about admitting that I want to change. It also has nothing to do with that prick Bukowski…