The Big Sleep

So, how to make one of the loudest live bands in New York City come alive? Behind the cabin, there's a gasoline-powered generator that Gabe uses for power tools. The band had never plugged its amps into a gas-generator. After five minutes of sound-checking, the amps started warbling and guitarist Danny Barria was worried: "I think this amp is melting down," he said. "Let's kill the power for a minute and then let's do this take." The result is a thunderous and intimate misfit moment: The Big Sleep – darkness, long-hair, provisioners of noise – pulverizing the stunning serenity like a bully does to the good student. The cabin stood.

Portraying The Big Sleep as an acoustic act is a little like asking Dylan to play electric. But then, he did. On "Chorus of Guitars," bassist Sonya Balchandani delivers a Nico-gone-dark vocal over the acoustic guitars of Danny and Gabe. Daylight is almost completely gone so the band has pulled all candles and lanterns to the porch. It's a pretty and crisp song, beautiful on a porch on a cold night in the Catskills. Watch this one to the end. After the end of the song, Gabe belts out a cartoon impression of Sonya's vocal as he heads back into the cabin. Fumbling through the dark, he climbs his drum stool to hang a lantern from the rafters. And in a flash, the drummer nearly meets his Spinal Tap Moment, crashing to the floor in the dark and smashing his head, arm and side on God-knows-what. He plays on.