Sheeps - Working the Machine (Live: In the Round at Meow)

Sheeps performing in the round the title track from their album, Working the Machine. Filmed by Lee Gingold, Ben Stewart, and Xavier Quilambaqui October 2nd 2021. Edited by Dean Blackwell and Lee Gingold. Meow, Edward St, Wellington NZ. Working the Machine is a broody masterclass in the art of the more-is-more approach to composition – concentrating the disenchantment of a forty-hour-work-week-for-fifty-years life into four-and-a-half minutes of droning, wall-of-sound Post Rock. Overtop of lolling verses and choruses that threaten to break free and revolt, frontperson Dean Blackwell sings with down-trodden fatigue of the perils of a working-class life – examining the hierarchical structure of the rat race and the actions of those at the top that keep those at the bottom in subordination. Booming tom-toms and thick, overdriven guitars underscore Blackwell’s pondering over life’s accolades examined in grey-haired retrospect, as the song crashes into a galloping, up-to-eleven climax. “What will fill your memory?” he asks. Working the machine. Engineered by James Goldsmith. Mastered by Chris Chetland at KOG Studios. Released through AllGood Absolute Alternative Records, April 26th 2024. Sheeps are: Thomas Friggens - Drums Grace Baker - Guitar Blain Fitzpatrick - Bass Guitar Simon Blackwell - Guitar Dean Blackwell - Guitar/Vocals