Sleeping Policeman

Anticipation (self-released) is the title of the third official studio album, issued by South Carolina’s Charles Grace and his gang, working under the name of Sleeping Policeman. The music they make is great to listen to, especially if, for example, you are hungover and need some quality tunes to listen to while getting your head back in order. Charles Grace (guitar/vocals), Zach Thomas (guitar), Jack Graham (keyboard/guitar), Peter Straus (drums) and Thomas Smith (bass guitar) play a blend of blues, rock, and folk music, enveloped into something I’ve come to recognize as “indie atmosphere.”
The primary role in Sleeping Policeman’s music is given to the (acoustic) guitar, played by Grace, a classically trained guitarist. He started his musical education when he was 13, and years and years of strict, classical training definitely took their toll. The album introduces something of a philosophical atmosphere — it was made by a man who felt like he needed to stop, look back and summarize everything he did so far. It is a retrospective as well as an introspective album.
Thus, the man behind the band says: “Anticipation is my third full length studio effort as Sleeping Policeman. This installment is the most ambitious and mature collection of songs at this point in my life. I have grown a lot over the past three years as a musician, a songwriter, and a person. There is a great deal of heartbreak, joy, and discovery on this album. Most importantly, I believe that these songs point toward some kind of hope and redemption, as well as a newfound sweetness in my life.”
Thus, our keywords for this occasion are: growth, heartbreak, joy, discovery, redemption and newfound sweetness. All is felt strongly throughout Anticipation, which includes 11 songs. I must say that the word “sweetness” definitely describes this album: it is bright, full of good vibes, a bit sad, yet never cheesy, which is something that is not easily achieved. It begins with an instrumental track, “Anticipation,” perfect for the opening as it is performed only on the acoustic guitar, and brings a distant memory to the music of Tommy Emmanuel (but without all the effects). It introduces us with this version of Charles Grace, whose skills are truly admirable.
The following song, “All Your Fears,” changes the atmosphere set by the acoustic guitar to blues rock and picks up the pace. What follows is a collection of tracks that change the emphasis from blues to rock, to folk, from melancholic to happy, sad or meditative. Each change of mood comes at the precisely right moment, shedding a different light to the same object. Or, kind of like with a kaleidoscope, you see a lot of images forming one shape, constantly changing its position.
As the album progresses, the object you are looking at is getting more and more melancholic, the tempo gets slower and the melodic aspect of each track becomes more emphasized. Each instrument has its own line, pushing forward once in a while, yet the whole structure stands strongly together. It feels like Anticipation was made in one breath, in one wave of inspiration.
In conclusion, Sleeping Policeman’s latest album is perfect for Sunday afternoons. Or snow days, rainy days, cold days – in short, made for relaxing and taking it easy. - The Snap Download

The cover of Anticipation, the third proper album under the name Sleeping Policeman by South Carolina's Charles Grace, is of a lamb's silhouette backlit by flames. This is an apt visual analogy for Grace's music - it's gentle at heart but burns and sparks with passion and energy.

Grace has been playing guitar since he was 13, going on to receive a bachelor's degree in classical guitar performance. Grace's training shows - his songwriting and arrangements are complex and innovative, like the slack-keyed chicken strut walkdown on "All Your Fears," which erupts into a glorious, heaven-sent sunburst vocal chorus, out of nowhere. Having a complex musical vocabulary gives Grace the ability to speak an intricate emotional language - polysyllabic expressions of longing, confusion and the many shades in between the primaries.

Grace's guitar fluctuates across a wide variety of tones and styles, both acoustic and electric. The album opens with a progressive finger style acoustic number, "Anticipation," that nods back to Grace's classical training, and further, to instrumental boundary pushers like finger style guitarist Andrew York, Paco De Lucia and John Fahey, with its roman candle harmonics and rustic Americana double-stops, like driving down a highway to forever with a pedal note bass playing the part of tires on tarmac.

After such ornate loveliness "All Your Fears" comes as a surprise, with a low down, slow burning country bite and growl that sounds like a less scuzzy '70s Neil Young. Grace plays it simple and restrained - although the songwriting is snazzy, almost Tin Pan Alley or Brill Building but also sounding like the thinnest, most stoned-washed '70s country blues rock you'll ever hear.

Styles and moods continue to shift, like a never-ending kaleidoscope, until all concept of genre disappears. There's a vaguely sunshine-y, upbeat bounce that continues throughout from the reggae skank of "Caretaker's Eyes" to the lyrical jazz rock of "Prodigal Father," built around a simple, memorable guitar riff. That upbeat bounce equates to optimism, which Grace summarizes by saying, "I believe that these songs point towards some kind of hope and redemption, as well as a newfound sweetness in my life."

He has good reason to feel optimistic. Anticipation is the first record conceived with a band, fleshed out to a three-piece, but with a laundry list of instruments between them. Everybody was on the same page including the engineer, Jim Harris, who recorded the band at his JBH Record Studio, in Myrtle Beach, SC. Even though Grace is a hotshot guitarist, he does not overplay, even when he is playing complicated solo pieces. When playing as a band, Grace leaves plenty of space in his playing, sticking at times to nearly rhythm guitar economy, which is then fleshed out with Timothy Hardwick's bass, mandolin and sometimes dual guitar to vibrant effect. First, and foremost, Hardwick gets a fierce tone, low down, growling, muscular yet slinky. His lines aren't overly busy, and he holds the grooves, interacting with Caleb LeBarre's drumming, which is mostly functional but occasionally shines forth like the solid slo-mo disco of "Beating Heart." The band brings Grace's compositions to pulsing life.

It's these details, the way the bass twines around the guitars, the swelling strings of "Wholesome House" that make you lean in and listen closer. At first, I was in danger of dismissing this record as imitation blues-rock. In the wrong light, the sounds can sound kind of thin and tinny, grating rather than petting, but closer examination in a proper listening environment revealed a lusher soundscape, deeper, softer. I was better able to fall under Sleeping Policeman's spell, and see where they were coming from.

Charles Grace is an accomplished musician, and a thoughtful, heartfelt human. He seems like he is developing his lexicon, working out what he is trying to say, so as to speak it more eloquently. The lush arrangements and nuanced songwriting say he should keep it up. By the next record, he should be fluent. - No More Division