If pictures tell a thousand words, then the post-rock melodies of Sydney’s Sleepmakeswaves must tell a million. Because without lyrics in the tracks to tell a story, the band finds other ways to effectively draw in listeners and evoke intense emotions during live shows, says guitarist Otto Wicks-Green.

“The first thing for us is dynamic. We work with a great sound engineer who knows our songs very well, and knows that it’s not just about creating a sound that pummels people through an hour and a half. It’s a journey. There’s this gradual rise, then this explosion, then it kind of all just falls away again.”

Tugging between influences as wide as electronic and metal, Sleepmakeswaves’ purely instrumental tunes are designed to soothe, energise and often inspire reflection. And leading up to the final shows of their international album tour for Love Of Cartography, Sleepmakeswaves have quite literally been on a journey themselves since the album was first released.

Wicks-Green started off as just a fan of Sleepmakeswaves, watching their shows at the old Hopetoun Hotel in Surry Hills (RIP). But his reputation as a guitarist, built up partly through performing covers on YouTube, earned him a recommendation and eventually a place in the band. And it’s an experience Wicks-Green says he’s been incredibly grateful for since joining the group soon after his 20th birthday.

“What drew me to this project was that it was very genuine. It’s very emotional and very intense. The live shows were intense, the chord progressions were beautiful and it was that sweeping prettiness with this heaviness that I loved.”

Though previously his background was in playing and listening to thrash metal, Wicks-Green soon adjusted from identifying as a ‘metal fan’ to more generally a ‘music fan’, expanding his taste and occasionally bringing some of his metal influences back into the band’s songwriting process.

“In the song ‘Great Northern’, there’s this two-part guitar harmony duel thing – that’s totally thrash metal. I love sneaking that kind of incongruous stuff into this post-rock framework; it makes me really happy.”

Sleepmakeswaves have changed the musical path they’ve been on from the beginning, too. Their latest album, Love Of Cartography, was borne of a love of travel and, for Wicks-Green, of maps. Instead of a requiem-esque record like their earlier albums, their mission was to make the new release more optimistic and accessible. Listening to Love Of Cartography, this idea of a journey makes a lot of sense – the music escalates, rises and falls, finishing with a sense of completion on ‘Your Time Will Come Again’.

The album was funded by a Pozible campaign, and the fans had such faith in the band to make a great record that the campaign exceeded the target. “I think it’s actually a more organic, natural and intuitive way of raising money for albums now,” says Wicks-Green. “Especially in this kind of punk rock, DIY theme that we’re in, where everyone supports each other and that’s the whole vibe. So I find the whole thing really positive, even though you wake up some mornings and you’re just frantically trying to do the calculations.”

Incredibly, the album has now taken Sleepmakeswaves across 22 countries for 55 shows. Their tour diary so far consists of a euphoric performance in Shanghai, where they didn’t expect to fill the huge Mao Livehouse but had plenty of dancers and crowd-surfers come support them, and a show on a boat in Budapest, played in a packed room underwater.

Like anything, a long tour can often be too much of a good thing. But luckily, Wicks-Green sees light in all of the energy and exhaustion they’ve gone through. “Being on tour is kinda like being in a long-term relationship – you have your ups and downs, but at the end of the day you love them.”

Life in a band, he adds, is often like going through the seasons – whichever stage you’re in (whether it be writing, recording or touring), you just want to be in the other one. Although the touring cycle has been inspiring and eventful, Wicks-Green admits he wishes he had some time back home with the band. He daydreams of the band’s plan to escape to a beach house on the coast to write another album, jamming out riffs and sitting down to noodle on the guitar.

“That’s one of the best things you can do with a guitar! That’s when magical things happen,” he says. “[Our next album] will probably turn out to be quite heavy again. I want to bring back the crushing guitar.”

Until then, Sleepmakeswaves have some big shows left on the final leg of their tour, finishing up with their biggest headline date yet, at the Metro Theatre in Sydney. Wicks-Green puts it quite simply: while touring overseas can be incredibly exciting, Australia is home, and it’s where they love playing most.

And after all the time Sleepmakeswaves have spent overseas, playing their final show for a while must come as some relief. “It’s going to be freaking awesome,” says Wicks-Green.

Sleepmakeswaves haveLove Of Cartography out now through Bird’s Robe/MGM, and they play Metro Theatre onSaturday June 13, withThis Will Destroy You, Gay Paris and Serious Beak.

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