Sparrow Sleeps made a name for themselves with their unique approach to cover songs, turning tracks such as ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’ and ‘What’s My Age Again?’ into soothing baby-appropriate instrumental lullabies. ‘Sparrow And Friends Start A Band’ marks the return of the kings of lullaby-core, and this time they’ve stepped things up a notch, bringing a whole host of famous names to help out with their self-penned songs. The list is impressive with Ace Enders, Matt Pryor and Ryan Key among those lending their vocal talents to the album.
Whilst Sparrow Sleeps’ cover songs made use of suitably soothing piano, xylophone, and woodwind instruments, ‘Sparrow And Friends Start A Band’ is targeted at 3-5 year olds and therefore everything is louder, more exciting, and more fun. The topics of the songs may be about how to tie your shoelaces or the importance of brushing your teeth, but the pop punk riffs are just as sharp and energetic as those that appear on any more typical example of the genre.
Musically, each song perfectly reflects that of the guest vocalists’ full-time bands. Will Pugh of Cartel appears on two tracks and not only are his vocals just as strong here as they are on any Cartel album, but strip the lyrics away and you’d think that you had just found a couple of unfinished mix of unreleased songs. Elsewhere, Dan Lambton of Real Friends and Joe Taylor of Knuckle Puck team up on ‘Sharing Is Cool’, delivering the same brand of emotionally-charged quickfire riffs as they normally do.
Whilst this means that the album is almost constantly switching style from track to track, it works brilliantly. Want to hear Ace Enders give it his all singing about his love for the alphabet over post-hardcore guitars? It’s here. Fancy listening to Mike Herrera of MXPX snarl his way, with tongue firmly in cheek, through the numbers 1 to 10 to a soundtrack of melodic punk guitars? Then give this album a listen immediately.
What’s more, it’s impossible not to find kids singing gang vocals utterly charming, as they do on ‘I Want To Play’, and the back and forth vocals of ‘The Sugar Song’ are an incredibly catchy way to persuade toddlers that they can’t exist on a diet of cupcakes, cookies, and milkshakes. It’s easy to dismiss an album when the subject doesn’t seem like your sort of thing, but in the same way that Pixar films are designed to appeal to kids but are packed with references and jokes for adults to pick up on, so it is that ‘Sparrow And Friends Start A Band’ will appeal to pre-school punks and those a decade or three older alike.
CHRIS HILSON