Sleeper - The It Girl

Although it lacks a standout track on the level of Smart's "Inbetweener," Sleeper's second album, The It Girl, is a stronger effort, suggesting that lead singer/song writer Louise Wener could develop into a distinctive talent. Certainly, her melodies and hooks are uniformly better this time around, ranging from the bouncy "Sale of the Century" to the sighing melancholy of "What Do I Do Now?" Wener's lyrics continue to be underdeveloped and simplistic, but her hooks usually make that tendency easy to ignore. What would have made The It Girl an even stronger album is a clearer, more focused production. Although the sound of the album changes subtlety throughout the course of the record, the overall effect is numbingly similar. The rhythm section lacks drive and the guitars lack balls -- they blend together into one dull grind. Out of all of Stephen Street's productions, this is the most undistinguished. Occasionally, the song is strong enough to compensate for the flat production, but Sleeper albums will not only improve according to the development of Louise Wener's song writing, but also as the band finds the right producer.

Sleeper – Smart

Britpop spawned a number of guitar bands with female vocalists and anonymous musicians – Echobelly, Salad, Elastica – and Sleeper were amongst the forerunners. And I guess that has a satisfying sense of irony about it because the band chose the name Sleeper to acknowledge the fact that the blokes in the band would receive little recognition or credit, and I’m not about to challenge that here. If you have not guessed Louise Wener was just about the sexiest thing in the world in my early to mid-thirty’s...Fuckin’ Gorgeous, and whilst I scoff at having this as a reason to enjoy this album / band it is not completely irrelevant in this context as it is Weners' voice and overall sex appeal in her delivery that saves many of the albums mediocre offerings from being throwaway...Just listen to “Hunch” and tell me if I am wrong?
Louise did not have the greatest voice in the world, I caught them live in Edinburgh and it was even more evident then. What she did have was the cute indie chick vibe in abundance and penchant for writing awesome 3 minute catchy guitar pop with her bandmates. "Inbetweener" is an intoxicating single. Fuzz guitars, light harmonies, singsong melodies and hooks keep piling up until the whole thing collapses in a heap after three minutes. There's a Blur-like quality to the observational lyrics but an Oasis-esque ear for melody and fantastic choruses. Of course, none of it is terribly original, but which Britpop band was? The genre's best bands lived and died by the quality of their songs, and Smart features 12 catchy, tightly written rock songs and 2 outright forgotten classics in "Swallow" and "Inbetweener".
An underrated entry into the 90s Britpop canon, this album stands alongside Parkllife and Definitely Maybe as a high watermark of the genre. Eschewing the punky, riot grrrl aesthetic of an Elastica or Breeders, Sleeper opts for a more melodic power pop sound with sweet, but punchy, female vocals from Louise Wener. It's not the most interesting of Britpop albums, but it is certainly one of the most enjoyable. It comes highly recommended for rock music fans.