Rebekah Delgado’s opening album establishes her witchy presence perfectly with haunting guitar melodies, strong overbearing vocals and a penchant for some infectious melodies.
“Don’t Sleep” opens with the track “Little Boy Blue” which plays with the nursery rhyme but making the track a cute swinging beat but actually anything else if far from cute. To the seething stance of the vocal delivery that is bubbling under with rage it’s almost palpable to the eerie whining guitars, it’s a fun mix that plays off each other well. “Lamentine” is even more dramatic with string accompaniment that squeals, screeches and freaks out as the song wraps itself up like a jack in a box and then collapses into a tired mess for the chorus and folksy middle section only to then go all spacious and epic space oddity on us before freaking out again. The transitions between each of segments and mood changes are seamless and it’s a real testament to Delgado that this whole cluster of energy and emotion fits together perfectly like a re-pieced figurine. “Day Like Any Other” reminds me very of Lisa Germano. It’s got a very tragic death feel to it, as does the production of the album as it sounds like it’s being played through a bass-less speaker through the tube station of ghosts and misery. This track is a good entry point and as close to radio play as Delgado could possibly get!
The title track follows showcasing Rebekah’s baby voice early on as she emphasises lots of syllables over the doom folk edges of the music. The finger picking high guitars and strings work well together, as does the use throughout the album of the theremin. “Sing You Through The Storm” brings the piano to the foreground for a cute Germano / Amanda Palmer version of a ballad. It has a really rousing climax like a good pub chant. “Dark Waltz” is a witchy piano solo that sounds like it was recorded in the 1930s. It serves as a nice half time measure before the rockier side picks back up with “The Hunger That Never Sleeps” which is a wonderfully in-cohesive track where Delgado talks the majority of the track where the other instruments seem to be playing their own separate track. It feels free and put together with complete abandon. “Scoundrelle” is the single that’s available with a funny video on her YouTube Channel and it fits perfectly into the album and its dark cabaret manner before “Sunrise” takes things onto a more uplifting rock side and gives us some euphoria for the first time on the album with the most straight forward chugging rock track on the album.
“Ménage A Moi” is simply excellent. It’s got that kooky drama and minor key chord structure I love and buckets of personality and spunk infused into the delivery of the instruments and the vocals. “Trying To Forget” reminds me of Wendy Rule where Rebekah has the acoustic doom folk vibe down to a T before closer “Vampires” rounds of the album with a beautifully decomposing ballad where everything feels like it’s about to collapse in on itself and smash.
The production on “Don’t Sleep” and the delivery of the tracks are a bold choice. This album isn’t about pristine recording quality. Everything feels like it’s designed to feel like its hanging by a thread and is about to throw itself off a bridge from the broken percussive loops to the Spanish guitar. The construction to do this is something of a fine art. Anyone whom enjoys angsty women who rock or anyone who loves doom folk – you my friends – have a new lady to hail.