THE SLEEVES DEMO BY THE SLEEVES

When his old band the Sweater Vests broke up, lead singer Ethan Burrows knew exactly what the name of his next band would be—The Sleeves. Everyone knows lead vocals and bagpipes are the essential elements to every band—much like the sleeves are to a shirt, unless it’s a sleeveless shirt. And even though nothing about the previous two sentences is true, the band the Sleeves seems determined to make themselves an essential part of the local music scene here in Utah.

Karl Marx called indie rock the opiate of the masses. And even though religion is the true opiate of the masses according to Mr. Marx, indie rock might as well be a religion with the way the local scene here in Utah treats it. Much like any devoted group of disciples to a genre, they love to gatekeep after saying all are welcome, so is there really that much of a difference between indie rock and religion?

Regardless, welcome to the fold, the Sleeves, because The Sleeves Demo is raw, unadulterated indie rock. It’s simple but effective. Just like daddy Karl would’ve liked. So maybe he would’ve loved indie rock. Indie rockers: working class heroes unless you’re the offspring of the upperclass elites (ever wonder why the parents of some of your favorite indie artists are blue on Wikipedia?).

The demo consists of three songs:
(1) Squire (sic) Boy: A classic indie rock bop with a catchy guitar riff and driving bass line about how a young Ethan was bullied for playing his starter Squier guitar. (He spelled the name of the brand wrong in the title, but who can blame him?)
(2) Today I thought about you (interlude): An introspective interlude of an older Ethan thinking about young Ethan getting bullied (see above).
(3) Victoria - Raw Jam: Rawer than my grandma's jam she's canning as I write this, "Victoria - Raw Jam" is an emotional surf rock banger where Ethan overcomes his childhood bullying through the healthy coping mechanism of jamming until all of the anger is gone. Who needs therapy when you have music?

None of the information in this review was factual, but please check out The Sleeves Demo regardless.