Progressive rockers Tangled Thoughts of Leaving have reached another milestone on their musical journey having put out a split release album with fellow band Sleepmakeswaves. It comes as the second part to a trilogy of releases the band is hoping to make before releasing a debut album at the end of the year. Tangled Thoughts of Leaving launched their EP Tiny Fragments in 2008 at The Bakery in Northbridge. Tiny Fragments was the culmination of years of jam sessions and pushing their music to its limits. "We always set the bar at a stupendously high level," frontman Aaron Pollard said. "In fact, we spend most of our time as a collective not completely happy with our workings. We always aspire to be better than we currently are. Although that isn't the healthiest way to go through life, it ensures that we're continuously searching for new ground."

Tiny Fragments caught the eyes and ears of several media outlets throughout Western Australia who likened the band to Mike Patton’s creation Mr Bungle. With their death metal vocals, jazz-infused keys and resounding guitarwork, Tangled Thoughts of Leaving say they are something entirely new to think about. Now they are stepping it up a notch with a band they befriended over the internet through a mutual appreciation of music.

Sleepmakeswaves’ drawn out mesmerising music creates the perfect balance for Tangled Thoughts of Leaving’s brutal but hypnotic tunes. "Sleepmakewaves are probably more refined than we are," Pollard said. "They are extremely effective in the experimental/post rock department while we excel more with straight up noise coupled with modern jazz and a little metal infused in there somewhere. We both do cover a bit of metal though, as well as experimental post rock, so that gives us enough shared aural DNA to warrant such a release." Fans of the local band will find the music on the split release to be slightly different to what they’re used to as the band continually try to test their limits. Pollard admitted to making an effort not to fall back onto their jagged jazz inserts that served them well on their initial EP and instead use more subtleties in their music. "The idea is that we're trying to understand ourselves as best as possible to best position ourselves for an eventual debut LP," he said.

Tangled Thoughts of Leaving has been kicking around since 2004. It’s been a long and interesting journey for the band that was conceived from childhood friends. The ambitious musicians have continued to put their music out around the region and now that they have finally begun pushing their music in a recorded format it is safe to say we can expect great things from them. Tangled Thoughts of Leaving will be putting forth an internet release in the coming months which will complete their trilogy of EPs before their full-length album is recorded. Pollard said he hoped the album would give their material a greater sense of context. "We really want to further separate ourselves from our peers and take a huge step forward as a collective," he said. "I expect us to fine tune our troublesome and chaotic machine and demonstrate a refined and concentrated sound that covers everything that we aspire to be at some level."

After the launch of the split release Tangled Thoughts of Leaving will be dropping off our radar as they embark on the writing of their full-length album but Pollard said for his fans to "hang in there". "There's literally no way this is going to die and we have every intention of returning better and armed with new material," he said. The split was officially uncovered at a launch at the Rocket Room in Perth on April 3.

To preview some of the tracks on the split release head to www.myspace.com/ttol or place an order for the album at www.sleepmakeswaves.com

By Nikkita Dixon