AMG Review of Again Love Smashes Up My Mind

Tim Sendra
All Music Guide

War Against Sleep is one weird band. Their two-song EP for Fire Records is a lo-fi indie rock curio that will take repeated listens before it begins to make sense. "Again Love Smashes Up My Mind" channels Johnny Rivers' "Secret Agent Man," but Duncan Fleming's vocals are over the top mock heroic and a little deranged instead of cool. Imagine Spoon using toy instruments and recording in someone's loo, or Pulp if that band had never hit it big and Jarvis Cocker ended up working at his local Marks & Spencer. "I Hope You're Having a Good Time" is even weirder. Fleming's vocals ooze insincerity like an airport lounge singer, the music is based on some very rinky-dink keyboards, and the whole thing starts to shudder like an unbalanced washing machine about halfway through, throwing the vocals out of sync with the music. Somehow it all works, though, and with this EP War Against Sleep has added its name to the list of indie rock bands who you should be on the lookout for.