Wintersleep Mine Their Memories for 'New Inheritors'

With memories and legacies at the heart of Wintersleep's fourth album, 'New Inheritors,' the Halifax group decided to put some of their most treasured possessions on the cover.

Canadian artist Graeme Patterson, the mastermind behind the album's artwork, asked the band to send in representations of their favourite memories so he could build a diorama out of miniature versions of them.

"Basically it's like a mausoleum of the artwork, like a tomb," says drummer Loel Campbell. "It's what will be left behind."

Towards the back of the pile is a boat that represents the one Campbell says he grew up on. It originally came from his grandfather who passed it on to his father. Vocalist Paul Murphy sent in a photograph of his old dog, Jenny, and the doll that looks like Kermit the Frog is a childhood toy belonging to guitarist and keyboardist Tim D'Eon. Bassist Mike Bigelow was the only band member who didn't contribute to the diorama.

"I didn't have anything at the time," he says, adding that if he were to add his own object, it would be the necklace he wears. "It belonged to my grandfather and he passed away last year."

The artwork is demonstrative of Patteron's style, which recently brought him national success with his Woodrow exhibit. The dioramas in the exhibit portray staples of the Saskatchewan town where the artist's grandparents lived.

Campbell explains that the title of the record was inspired by a Nathaniel Hawthorne story called 'The New Adam and Eve,' where the biblical characters are portrayed as the new inheritors of a post-apocalyptic Earth.

Early last month, Wintersleep previewed the new album by allowing fans to download two songs, 'Black Camera' and 'New Inheritors,' that they had been performing, along with several others, for over a year.

"Last year, we played up to five or six new ones in a night, which is really a lot," Bigelow admits. And now that the album is out, the band can focus on bringing even more new material to their fans, which Campbell feels is a real thrill.

"Recording is one thing, but then taking them into the live atmosphere, it's just kind of like you're breathing another wind into the song just by pulling them off live and interpreting them from the record," he says.

Although the band reached mainstream success with their 2007 album, 'Welcome to the Night Sky,' Campbell says their writing process hasn't changed.

Some of the new songs, like 'Mausoleum' or' Trace Decay,' aren't particularly radio-friendly because they're too long, Bigelow says. But there are catchy tunes such as 'A Terrible Man,' which he describes as having a catchy melody while being short enough for radio audiences.

"It just ends up that way. We do it because we like it," he says, explaining that, even without the attention and accolades it brought them, they were truly pleased with their breakthrough single 'Weighty Ghost.'

The band will be touring the US throughout June. They'll be back in Toronto on Aug. 28 supporting City and Colour, as well as Tegan and Sara, at the Molson Amphitheatre, and in Edmonton on Sept. 4 for the Sonic Boom festival.