Sleepy Hollow: Press

Matt Schwarz - 2003 - "The Lost Way"


Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, one of the two primary songsmiths for the US outfit Sleepy Hollow, Matt Schwarz has one album released under his own name. Titled "The Lost Way", it contains eleven tracks (ranging from 2 to 8 minutes), all being the musician's original compositions. On most of them their creator is featured solo, playing acoustic guitar, flute, harp, dulcimer and mandolin, though it is the former two instruments that are usually in the arrangement, apart from Matt's singing. Three of the tunes also feature a guest cello player, and two others are sung by a different vocalist, but these are just details which have no influence on the album's overall picture. All the songs without exception have a strong minstrel feeling, showing their maker as a modern-day troubadour, who is additionally well familiar with basic progressive rock doctrines. This heartfelt, inspired, original music (only Jethro Tull can serve as a reference point here) is aimed at lovers of acoustic Progressive and should satisfy all of them, save probably only those into classically inspired or avant-garde Chamber Rock.
VM: June 11, 2007

SLEEPY HOLLOW - GOING OVER



INDEPENDENT


METAL TO INFINITY

Sleepy Hollow is, as I've told before, a strange band from New Jersey. They are writing some kind of odd music influenced by ancient elements that gives their music an epical touch. Next to the EP they also released this ''Going Over''. I received a double CD from which I don't actually know what I have to say about the 'Interstate' disc.



This Rock Opera takes off with an instrumental intro, followed by a guitar solo that seems to communicate with an organ. The guitar sound sounds very retro and the use of the organ is giving me the same feeling. This concept CD is telling a story about a drug addict, using the music to tell more about the drugs. Constantly I have the feeling of listening to some kind of hippie music, late sixties or early seventies music. Of course drugs were related with this subculture, as it also is in this story. Based on the old Deep Purple and Jethro Tull, Sleepy Hollow delivers Hard Rocking music on their own specific, bizarre way. I can't say these guys aren't gifted or talented, the opposite is true. All members are singing and the band uses several a-typical instruments. On the other hand I have to admit this isn't my cup of tea. No matter how much respect I have for these guys as musicians I can't say the music pleased me for one second.

I do believe Sleepy Hollow is standing still in an era that is forgotten by the most of us. Metal Heads are mostly looking to the eighties if we talk about the roots of Heavy Metal, this is far beyond. The truth really is that Metal was formed many years before, in a time when Deep Purple and Black Sabbath just began to write the history of our genre. Nevertheless I don't feel the need to go back into those ancient times and that is what Sleepy Hollow is doing with me. Let this be music for the elder amongst us. Difficult CD to rate... My Points: 70/100 (review by Officer Nice)

SLEEPY HOLLOW - SLEEPY HOLLOW



INDEPENDENT


METAL TO INFINITY

No, this ain't the band with Bob Mitchell (Attacker) on vocals! As often a band is using a name that was already used before but let's not consider this as a major problem. Nevertheless also Sleepy Hollow was formed in New Jersey, the home of Attacker.



Matt Schwarz seems to be the main song writer of the band. He chose to write some very bizarre kind of Rock music, something like - Metal is meeting some kind of seventies Rock band... This man is a musician 'pur sang'. Next to the electric guitars he uses, or let use, non traditional instruments like the flute or a saxophone. Of course it is giving the tracks a special retro sound and a weird atmosphere. I never had the feeling to listen to a CD from the year 2000.



Mister Schwarz found some equal artists to write and perform the songs and to be honest all are amazingly good in playing their instruments. Each song was sang by another member and all are delivering that typical seventies sound. Especially with 'From Above' it feels like you're listening to the very old Deep Purple. To be honest I'm too young for being a fan of that era, except for the most famous tracks like 'Smoke On The Water' and 'Child In Time'. But yes, Sleepy Hollow contains four first class musicians with own ideas, original song writing and outstanding musical structures. I can't say I have been bored for a second, too much is to discover on this EP. On the other hand I can't say Sleepy Hollow took me by the throat with these tracks, more songs would have been too much to handle.



Fans of alternative or even Progressive Rock music, mixed with a bit of retro sounding Metal and a seventies 'Jesus Christ Superstar' sound will be amazed by Sleepy Hollow. MY POINTS: 70/100 (review by Officer Nice)

Sleepy Hollow EP review:

This four-song EP could easily have been recorded in the early 1970's as opposed to the new millenium. Many progressive touchstones are here, from pseudo folk-driven pieces to semi-classical compositions embellished with dramatic dialogue.
"Destiny" is a tune that could have come from the Kansas songbook. It features a straight-ahead rock groove fostered by strong lead vocals from bassist Dan Castiel. A cool mid-tempo organ solo by Joe Dell surfaces and is complemented by hot lead guitar at the end.
"Two Too Late" showcases Dell's mellow lead vocals. With a mix of acoustic renaissance and classical influence the woodwind contributions of Matt Schwarz on flute and Dan Castiel on saxophone are exquisite.
"From Above" sounds like it could have been taken from Deep Purple's Burn album, with its driving groove and cooking organ.
"Sleepy Hollow" closes the disc with guitarist Matt Schwarz recounting said tale of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. With an over-the-top vocal performance that borders on camp, Schwarz valiantly guides this mini-epic through pseudo-classical and near-metal waters.

Analysis. The album is made up of thirteen tracks, the first eight of which are subsumed to a unified lyrical design and are united under the title of Going Over, the entire thing (I don't think the concept of a suite is applicable in this particular case) exceeding 19 minutes in duration. The first and the last part of the heading composition, Broken Water and Broken Wings, are the only instrumentals on the entire CD, the former being my favorite track despite its shortness. This is a beautiful, touching, dramatic interplay between acoustic guitar, flute and boparina evolving to the accompaniment of gently marching drums with an amazing sense of Renaissance music widespread throughout. Broken Wings is just a harp reprise of Broken Water. Unfortunately, the flute and harp are absent on the other tracks, and only one of them, Mare Crastinum, features acoustic guitar as one of the primary soloing instruments. The music is the interchange of organ- and acoustic guitar-laden softer arrangements and those based on the crunchy electric guitar riffs with quite unexpected theatric vocals. Inasmuch as all the band members combine their duties as instrumentalists with those of singers, I don't know which of them takes the lead on Mare Crastinum, but I'd rather he'd sung everywhere on the album. By the way, all four of the musicians alternate each other behind the microphone on Rock Hard, which concludes the CD. Almost in everything - from the guitar riff construction to the distinctive 'barking' chorus - it reminds me of AC/DC with organ. Very primitive and tasteless alike. Collapse and Farewell to a Friend are better and are structurally closer to Mare Crastinum. All the so-far-unnamed songs are basically harsh and heavy nearly throughout, the organ in most cases being the only instrument providing the music with genuine diversity, although three of them, Bad Reflection, Blast Off and Pay the Price, contain either very few keyboard patterns or none, referring to early Heavy Metal (think Judas Priest circa "Sin After Sin"). The other four are more colorful - an understatement. Seedy Sales, F.A.T. and 90's Child are vintage organ-driven Hard Rock much in the vein of Deep Purple, except for the vocals, which are quite inexpressive. On Under the Ground, the band enters an area of dark symphonic Doom Metal rooted in early Black Sabbath ("Vol. 4"), although the presence of raw, at times sinister vocals suggests some names of later proponents of this style, such as Tiamat or Paradise Lost. "Going Over" comes with a bonus disc, which includes a "movie version" of the eponymous 'suite' where there is nothing new but the spoken dialogs etc verbalisms.

Conclusion. There is not too much on "Going Over" to afford you aesthetic pleasure if you're a progressive music lover, while those exclusively into proto-progressive Hard Rock and Heavy Metal might find the CD worth a listen in its entirety.

Sleepy Hollow - Goin' Over review:

Sleepy Hollow are a quartet from New Jersey, at least they were a quartet! Since the release of debut album Goin' Over, drummer Fran Melick and bassist Frank Castiel have fled the coup, leaving organist (and producer) Joe Dell and guitarist, flautist and harp player Matt Schwarz to continue flying the Sleepy Hollow flag. Originally formed in the tail end of 1999, the group wasted no time in writing over a dozen tracks which, supplemented by a few choice cover versions, enabled they to play two-hour plus sets to growing numbers of supporters. In 2001 the band released an eclectic four song EP with each member of the band singing lead vocals on one track.
The diverse nature of the EP has followed through onto the album, which takes as its blueprint a heavy rock album and then mixes in elements of prog, metal, funk and even more pastoral acoustic folk music. The mainstay of the album is the title track, present in two forms. The first is the pure 20-minute musical version, split into eight distinct (and I mean distinct!) sections while the second, included as a bonus disc, has an extra 17 minutes of added dialogue that drives the narrative of the story along and tells in graphic detail the spiralling descent of a young man into drug addiction. Broken Water, an acoustic, almost medieval, flute and guitar piece opens the story before an organ and electric guitar take over on Seedy Sale providing a classic 70s rock accompaniment to the first introduction to drugs with the smoking of a joint. As the scene shifts to a dance club the music becomes a little funkier with F.A.T. where the protagonist is introduced to LSD. From there the only way is down with Bad Reflection taking on the faster pseudo thrash metal of a cocaine rush, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers-like funk metal of Blast Off representing experimentation with crack before the nadir is reached in Collapse which musically charts the transition from the harsh and energetic rush of the crack to the coming down and mellowing out of a first heroin hit which inevitably leads to death and burial (Farewell To A Friend). Final section, Broken Wings is a brief reprise of Broken Water only this time played on a harp (angel's wings and fluffy clouds etc!).
An ambitious undertaking and a clever idea to represent each step in the pharmaceutical 'exploration' by a different style of music, but I am not too sure it hangs together too well in the purely musical form. The 'screenplay' version may have the edge as the dialogue adds another dimension, although with as much talking as music, one probably wouldn't want to play it too often.
The rest of the album comprises five songs that are all pretty basic hard rock. The best of the bunch were the two tracks with the more prominent keyboards, namely the more commercial 90's Child and Mare Crastinum which sort of reminds me of The Cardiacs played at half speed! However, both these songs, particularly 90's Child, do feature some of the weakest lead vocals on the album. Final track Rock Hard was quite a poor way to end the album as it brought back memories of some of the very mediocre material that was released during the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. However, I imagine it would be a very good live number with its heavy repetitive structure and all four band members taking turns to deliver the lead vocal.
Sleepy Hollow have made a very brave and bold attempt at producing something different in the rock/metal field. What they do, they do with a fair degree of competence and originality and I am sure they will find an audience. However, ultimately it was not really my bag.