Spider Kitten - God Don't Sleep

Spider Kitten have never made the same album twice, and God Don't Sleep is no exception. Five tracks, forty minutes, and the heaviest, most psychedelic ground the band have covered since 2016's Ark of Octofelis. It's also, in more ways than one, the most intriguing thing they've ever put their name to.

God Don't Sleep pulls the band back toward the sound of A Pound for the Peacebringer and Ark of Octofelis. Best Guess Hotel kicks the door in: a full-on puncher of an opener, built on a lurching 6/4 like crossing an uneven hotel lobby floor. Grubby tales of vice and debauchery dwell within. The Calver shows its teeth slowly. A hushed, nervous intro creeps along at its own pace before detonating into huge, Harvey Milk-sized riffs, loud and quiet dynamics stretched out until the quiet part starts to feel like the threat. Fans of Roger Waters’ solo work may find their ears prick up.

Fast Queen opens with an engine turning over and doesn't let up: Chris West's shouted verses riding the riff, harmonies taking over for the chorus, closer to a stoner rock banger than anything Spider Kitten have tried for a while, before coming apart at the end in a wig-out of squealing feedback. Losers & Fools slows everything back down: a psychedelic, stomping slow-burner in the Octofelis mould, thick with harmonies, Chi sharing vocal duties with Rob, to produce something akin to Alice In Chains’ creepier offerings.

And then there's the title track. God Don't Sleep is the record's 20-minute centre of gravity: the huge-riff side of the band sharing space with a guitar solo that's about as pure David Gilmour as this band will ever get. If you've ever wondered how Pink Floyd would sound if they veered into sludge territory, this track may bring you some answers.

The packaging is where God Don't Sleep does something unexpected. Rather than the usual band photo and thank-you list, the physical release is dressed as though it were a genuine artefact from another band entirely: a group called The Spider Kitten (note the definite article), credited on the sleeve as Johnny Music (vocals, guitar), Jimi Hengoed (bass, lead guitar) and Jerry Axesticks (drums), presented as though God Don't Sleep were their real debut album, released in 1976.

The sleeve carries a period rock-journalism essay (dated 1976, byline Lester Wang) describing this other Spider Kitten's sudden, Beatlemania-scale arrival in Los Angeles: mobbed at LAX, playing the Troubadour and the Corral in Topanga, rubbing shoulders with the LA rock scene of the day, before disappearing off to record the album the essay claims you're now holding.

It's an unusual, elaborate piece of fiction for a UK stoner doom band to build around their own record, and it isn't there by accident. Ark of Octofelis, a decade ago, told its own psychedelic story about a mysterious band and a desert, and God Don't Sleep, in its own sideways way, has more to say about where that story began than its five tracks let on. How far you want to follow that thread is up to you. There's lore aplenty for the curious, but the album stands on its own either way.

1.       Best Guess Hotel

2.       The Calver

3.       Fast Queen

4.       Losers & Fools

5.       God Don’t Sleep

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Chi Lameo. Artwork by Luke Oram.

Spider Kitten is:
Chi Lameo: vocals, guitar
Chris West: drums
Rob Davies: bass