Oh, Sleeper | More Than 14th Century Mythology
Written By: Jeremy Seick

cried more the first time I heard the Oh, Sleeper track “Charlatan’s Host” than your parents did to Bary Manilow’s 1970’s hit “Mandy”. Any band that can evoke that sort of emotion must be more than good breakdown’s and 14th Century mythological stories. A verse in Ephesians cries out from the pages, “Wake up O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” and that is just what was done when Oh, Sleeper stepped onto the scene in 2005 as a collective unit, gathered from other projects like the well known Tooth and Nail band Terminal.

Since their birth they have refused to make their music about less than exactly what they want it to be. These songs were not going to be about parking lots and pillow fights, no, lead vocalist, Micah Kinard has much more conviction and passion than to let what he really wants to say be swallowed up by a radio hit. “As a lyricist I strive to be as honest and blunt as possible with our message and the rest of the band has always been super supportive of that.” states Kinard. Though he owned enough tact in the writing of When I Am God to make his messages out of metaphors, requiring us think in order to find the meaning. On the surface many of their songs sound like a story you have read in your college English Lit class but when the metaphors are grasped the song and its meaning seems to come to life in our minds through these stories and the imagery that comes with them.

Don’t get me wrong though, Oh, Sleeper knows that their message is only as good as the music that drives it and since the 2007 release of When I am God, fans are anxious to hear their 2009 follow up, Son of the Morning and Oh, Sleeper has really tightened up and buckled down to insure that we will not be disappointed by their sophomore release. “The new album has some really cool new elements musically,” Micah tells us, “and, in my opinion, sounds a lot differently than WIAG. Structurally, the new songs are much more thought-out. During our last album cycle we observed crowd responses throughout all the tours with the new record in mind and tried to write an entire album of favorite parts.” Oh, Sleeper will also stray from the heavy use of metaphors in this next album, “Son of the Morning is a concept album. It is a story from start to finish and we all are really excited about it.” Micah adds that, “the new record is actually more literal and blunt than When I Am God. All of the references in Son of the Morning are more spiritually inspired than mythologically.”

It seems that Oh, Sleeper will be unleashing a new beast on August 25th and one that will not be easily tamed. The band sets this album into the hands of fans with the hopes that it have as much of a positive influence on them as WIAG did. “The talks I have with people at shows and hearing how the music has helped them through struggles in their lives really recharges my batteries and keeps me going,” Micah tells us. “It’s Gods way of telling us that we are exactly where we are supposed to be.”