New Jersey dream-folk trio Long Beard are led Leslie Bear, and there’s few better words to describe their debut album Sleepwalker than that title itself. The record lingers somewhere between the lucid and a permanent reverie, and unlike most rookies, Bear is unafraid to mix long, scattered stretches of blurry white noise with her pointed, personal lyrics. Sleepwalker teaches us in a waking dream that there can be precision in wandering, there can be artfulness in disarray.
Sleepwalker is a fitting title for Long Beard’s new album; Leslie Bear’s songs often sound like the space between the dream world and waking consciousness. It’s a hushed, declarative collection of tracks that focus on small facets of our day-to-day routine, and the seemingly insignificant thoughts it produces. Bear’s voice wafts in and out of spindly guitar motifs, but its delicate nature doesn’t hinder any of her precocious observations. They’re humbly rendered, huge revelations.
