You're a Party

Sleeping in the Aviary’s debut album "Oh, This Old Thing?" (Science of Sound), showcased SITA’s ability to create intense bursts of lo-fi, catchy-as-hell pop. With songs averaging under two minutes, comparisons to The Thermals, Buzzcocks, Violent Femmes and Nirvana were inevitable.

Now, another side of the band’s musical personality is captured on SITA’s sophomore album "Expensive Vomit In A Cheap Hotel" released October 14, 2008 on Science of Sound. The Madison band’s core of Elliott Kozel (guitar/vocals), Michael Sienkowski (drums) and Phil Mahlstadt (bass), has added a fourth member, Celeste Heule, on accordion and musical saw, heralding a move towards an indie-folk direction.

SITA emerged from the Science of Sound studio with an incredible collection of newly-recorded material. "Expensive Vomit In A Cheap Hotel" is still intense, full and raw, but now could draw comparisons to the likes of Neutral Milk Hotel, Baptist Generals and even Bob Dylan. Plus the songs have grown longer in length – none are under three minutes.

Kozel sheds some light on the band’s change in direction on the new album, pointing out that tracks on Expensive Vomit In A Cheap Hotel were written in the aftermath of tragedy. “Everybody’s Different, Everybody Dies” was recorded the same week his co-worker died of a brain aneurism on the way to work and an old friend died of a drug overdose. “Windshield” and “Write On” were written while Kozel was in a hospital caring for his sick mother. But he also points out “they are both songs of hope.”

There has also been a pair of additional releases from the SITA camp following their debut. In November 2007, Science of Sound released an eponyous spacey-folk album under the moniker She Is So Beautiful/She Is So Blonde, written and recorded by Kozel in his bedroom between the years 2003-2007. And in May 2008 it was the drummer’s turn , as Sienkowski composed and recorded a ‘60s-inspired pop album entitled Sooner Late Than Never under the moniker Whatfor. Tracked and mixed at Science of Sound, Whatfor’s album featured Sienkowski, Kozel and Mahlstadt as well as other Madison musicians on strings and horns to flesh out the sound.

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"...engaging, dank and irreverent energy..." - Alternative Press

"...Sleeping in the Aviary possesses the same snotty charm as the aforementioned Femmes (circa their early era), especially in the vocal stylings of singer/guitarist Elliott Kozel, which can be heard clearly on the album opening 'Write On.' Elsewhere, you'll also find a Pixies-esque ditty ('Gas Mask Blues') and a haunting album closing ditty ('Windshield')." - All Music Guide

"In a departure from the band's debut, Oh, This Old Thing?, Sleeping in the Aviary bounds down the road littered with folk rock heroes of the past. 'Gas Mask Blues' is a Siamese twin to Bob Dylan's 'Maggie's Farm,' while 'Write On' opens the affair with a burst of love sick rage." - Illinois Entertainer

"Their debut full-length...was a controlled chaos of warbled vocals, fast riffing, and sentiments of abjection. This year's Expensive Vomit in a Cheap Hotel comes up with a similar thesis - but this time around, it's been filtered down to a level somewhere between post-psychotic folk music and a pre-apocalyptic drug addiction. For my money, this is a pure coclear joy." - PRICK Magazine

"Expensive Vomit begins like Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes leading an unplugged Arcade Fire, but it swiftly blasts into an unbridled rock rave-up worthy of the Pixies back when Black Francis was delivering demon-exercising howls." - The Charlotte Observer

"The raw and immediate approach that garnered the band comparisons to The Thermals is still around. It's toned down a tad, though, as SITA tackles a broader base of influences, drawing on everything from late-'90s indie pop to that sort of singer/songwriter folk that's been around forever without changing one bit. Just take it as a whiskey and speed party at the folk festival and leave it there." - Aversion

"...a raggedy sort of rock of roll, one that dips its toe into folk and the blues before galloping back into the world of cranging guitars." - Aiding & Abetting

"Touchy, creave, sappy, eclectic, and fiercely energetic all at the same time; Sleeping in the Aviary bring together an array of sound most bands can only dream of accomplishing."- Metro Spirit

"Sleeping in the Aviary has moved beyond the headlong punk abandon of their debut, crafting an impressive set of refined pop songs -- replete with 'la, la, la's,' and 'oooh-wee's!' -- even if they're still dressing them with indie noise trappings." - Elmore Magazine