December 17th, 2014 
Ryan Kappy 
Artist: The Cinema
Title: Talking In Your Sleep
Label: 8123 Records
Genre: Indie Pop
In 2011, a new musical force was brought upon the music world when Lydia’s frontman Leighton Antelman and producer Matt Malpass created The Cinema. This resulted in their debut album My Blood Is Full Of Airplanes the same year, which was met with critical acclaim and showed a new direction in Antelman’s musical endeavors. Fast forward three years and the collaboration brings us Talking In Your Sleep, which takes My Blood Is Full Of Airplanes and sprinkles layers of vocal transformations and epic synthesizer effects to create an album that explores experimentation and growth in equal measure.
Starting with the album’s opener, “Call It In The Air,” we’re cast into a fun-loving sequel of The Cinema’s music with groundbreaking effects and hard drum patterns still being used, except there is a sense of maturity and urgency this time around. Next is “Turn It On,” showcasing a lighter side, which feels a little odd considering how early we are into the album, but Copeland’s Aaron Marsh lending guest vocals makes up for the faint sound. My personal favorite cut is “Crazy,” an effort that starts to change the album’s gears with unbelievable keyboard effects and a bridge that has influence of fun.’s sound from Some Nights. Meanwhile, with a song like “She Knows,” it’s assured that tempo can be pushed to the fullest while subtle guitars and assorted effects coexist.
“Ghost” is the definite peak of the album where Antelman utilizes his voice to reach different ranges, shown mostly in the epic vibe of its chorus. “Punchline” is considered the surprising track in that it experiments with a three-person chorus formed with ex-Lydia, current States singer Mindy White, and even Malpass lending vocals throughout, harmonizing together during the bridge. The title track, “Talking In Your Sleep,” for me, is a highlight, with possibly the most impressive display of music, featuring a rather groovy sound, complemented by a very hard and deep bass in the bridge that adds to the eclectic choice of effects. Rounding out the backbone of the album is the baby music box-filled “Dancing Round Me,” the overly poppy “Weekend,” and the subtle yet solid finisher “Going Down,” which assures that Talking In Your Sleep holds together even if a miscue happens to come along.
With this release, The Cinema reach far new heights, impressively exercising the expansion of their sound. This is due to the endless hooks, vocal experimentation, and even weird measures that went into Talking In Your Sleep, especially with musical guests like Mindy White and Aaron Marsh making appearances. It can be said that with this sophomore rise of an album, the future looks promising for the duo and fans will be so gratified with the album that they will be “talking in their sleep” about it.
SCORE: 8/10
Review written by Ryan Kappy
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