Sleepy Jackson - God Lead Your Soul

by John Clarkson

published: 5 / 7 / 2006

Label: Select Label
Format: CDS

Forgettable new single from the much hyped Sleepy Jackson

Review

The Sleepy Jackson have garnered a reputation for creating powerful epic pop over the last few years. For his latest single ‘God Lead Your Soul’, the first off new album ‘Personality-One Was a Spider, One Was a Bird’, Australian main man Luke Steele has assembled an arsenal of nine other players including guitarists, keyboardists, piano and synth players and backing singers, and also an orchestra. And therein lies the problem. ‘God Lead Your Soul’, with its silken vocal harmonies, lush guitars and sumptuous brass and string arrangements, packs too much into his three and a half minute running time. Ideas are not allowed to grow organically, and, with too much going on too quickly, it all sounds a bit of a mess. There is undoubtedly a decent tune waiting to get out underneath it all, but it is all drowned out by its bombastic over production. 'God Lead Your Soul’ is by no means a bad record. The playing is certainly accomplished, but, with no hook for its listener to hold onto, it is, as soon as it has reached its lavish end, instantly forgettable.