After skipping out on two of the last three albums to work on his own solo material, Animal Collective member Deakin (Josh Dibb) released his long-gestating debut, “Sleep Cycle.” While Deakin has previously taken the vocal and songwriting lead on the underwhelming “Centipede Hz” track, “Wide Eyed,” “Sleep Cycle” seems to come out of nowhere as one of the strongest of the band’s many side projects.
The album features a diverse set of sounds, but each song smoothly transitions into the next. “Sleep Cycle” begins with the simple and acoustic “Golden Chords.” Like most of the songs on the album, it is on the longer side, allowing the mellow vocals and acoustic guitar to breathe but never overstaying its welcome.
“Just Am” presents a much more complex, reverb-heavy sound. Driven by a strong melody, the song’s layered instrumentals continually ebb and flow, at times giving way to a simple piano sound before picking back up.
“Footy” has the most experimental and frantic sound along with Roger Waters-esque vocals and is a strong callback to Animal Collective’s early album “Here Comes the Indian.” “Good House” ends the album by returning to a more simplistic sound that is equal parts Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” and Panda Bear’s “Person Pitch.” Each long song holds its own charms and all four have an argument for the highpoint of the album.
The four longer songs are supplemented by the abstract transitional songs, “Shadow Mine” and “Seed Song.” Both songs are easy to overlook on their own, but make nice contributions to the album’s overall flow. “Sleep Cycle” is certainly not the weirdest thing to come out of Animal Collective and its numerous side projects, but it nonetheless provides the same experimental sound to which fans have become accustomed.
Compared to Animal Collective’s recent “Painting With,” which does not feature a single song over five minutes, “Sleep Cycle” benefits from never feeling rushed. It often recalls some of the band’s early albums and features both natural acoustic sounds and plenty of guitar — both of which are largely absent from the band’s recent music. Even though the album is only six songs long and driven by its four longer songs, it provides plenty of material to dig into.
Despite rarely being featured as a vocalist for Animal Collective, Deakin’s strong vocals throughout the album are a pleasant surprise. Compared to the yelps and falsettos that populate Animal Collective’s discography, Deakin’s approach is much more simplistic and subtle, and recalls at times Grizzly Bear’s vocalists Daniel Rossen and Ed Droste, which mesh well with each song’s individual texture.
Having only appeared on about half of Animal Collective’s albums, Deakin is perhaps the most unheralded member, but “Sleep Cycle” gives him the welcome opportunity to flex his songwriting muscles. Much like Panda Bear’s breakout “Person Pitch,” “Sleep Cycle” shows that Deakin is a formidable musician in his own right.
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