About Walking Sleep…

Born in 2007, Walking Sleep came to life with a purpose: cross-pollinating boy/girl vocal harmonies with classic rhythms, intricate orchestration, and curiously dark lyrics. Originally formed under the name the Flying Tourbillon Orchestra, the six-piece band came together as an extension of lead singer Hunter Curra’s exploratory songwriting. Drawing influence across genres and decades, the music echoes the melancholy psychedelic pop of the Zombies, the uptempo stomp of classic Motown, and the moody melodicism of Fleetwood Mac, all twisted and reshaped through the prism of indie pop.

With a handful of demos and an arsenal of chiming guitars and hypnotic organ lines, Walking Sleep emerged with a fully formed aesthetic and quickly took the show to the stages of Los Angeles. From early on, the band incorporated the use of lamps on stage, bringing equal parts glowing warmth and shadow to the live proceedings. Spurred on by the positive response from the Silverlake scene, the band played shows up and down the west coast, all the while honing their songcraft.

In 2008, Walking Sleep issued its recorded debut, the 5-song Escapements EP, and continued to develop its live show in front of ever-increasing crowds. A track from the EP, “The Uniform,” appeared in an episode of Grey’s Anatomy that fall. 2009 brought the addition of vocalist Sara Radle, formerly of the Rentals, and with her a growing sense of confidence. Live performances became more adventurous,  and saw the band experimenting with spectacle: one show brought a full marching band onstage for a rendition of the Fleetwood Mac oddity “Tusk.” Increased attention led to larger shows, including opening for the Silversun Pickups and the Dandy Warhols at the Gibson Amphitheater.

Following the surge of momentum, the band took to the studio to record their first full length. The 10-track album, Measures, was released in May 2010 hot on the heels of a SXSW trek and a packed hometown residency at the Echo. Recorded by Aaron Espinoza of Earlimart at the Ship Studios in Eagle Rock,  the album showed a wealth of new ideas, from garage rock to expansive strings, guitar solos and meticulously layered arrangements. Measures brought in waves of reviews and with them, droves of new fans. Echoing their earlier success, the album brought in additional television placements, amongst other new opportunities such as live radio performances and larger shows.

Now, less than a year after the release of the first album, Walking Sleep have completed something entirely different. With a batch of new songs and a new focus – energy and spontaneity over polish and perfectionism – the band took early 2011 to bash out several tracks in a unique environment. With the aid of a mobile recording rig, they holed up inside a cavernous, industrial tarp factory to capture the energy and live nature of a band experimenting outside of a sterile studio environment.  Opting to self-produce the material in order to keep the raw nature of the space and avoid the complications of endless myopic studio tweaking, the resulting songs show the band experimenting inside and outside of its familiar styles. The new material is now released as a 12″ vinyl record – TARP SESSIONS.