Sleeper

Formed in London in the early 1990s around Louise Wener and Jon Stewart, Sleeper sits within the Britpop wave while maintaining a rougher edge, between melodic indie rock, tense guitars and choruses with very direct pop hooks. Initially active from 1992 to 1998, the band drew attention after several early singles and then with Inbetweener in 1995, at a time when Sleeper notably toured with Blur and frequented the decade's most exposed British scene. The lineup then released three studio albums in quick succession, Smart (1995), The It Girl (1996) and Pleased to Meet You (1997), showing an evolution from a sound still marked by American alternative rock toward more concise and more pop songwriting without losing its electric tension. The cover of Atomic for the Trainspotting soundtrack, as well as Statuesque in the film's universe, also helped fix Sleeper in the 1990s imagination. Separated in 1998, Sleeper reformed in 2017 with Louise Wener, Jon Stewart and Andy Maclure, joined on stage and in the studio by Kieron Pepper. Since this return, Sleeper has hit the road again in the United Kingdom and added new records to its trajectory with The Modern Age (2019) and This Time Tomorrow (2021), in a continuity where the band maintains its balance between acid pop, indie rock and mordant social observation.