Sleep Confirms 1st Album In 8 Years ‘Hempispheres’ & Shares Sludgy Single ‘The Morrisist’

Six weeks removed from launching a new era, Sleep is back with news of a new album, Hempispheres, arriving digitally on September 2 and physically on October 30 via Third Man Records. The band led by bassist Al Cisneros also shared the record’s second track, “The Morrisist.”

In June, Cisneros introduced the new Sleep with “Have Spacesuit Will Travel,” the opening track on Hempispheres. The album is the band’s first following the departure of co-founding guitarist Matt Pike.

Cisneros is continuing as a trio with the addition of guitarist Bubba Dupree (Void) and drummer Dale Crover (Melvins, Redd Kross).

“Hempispheres doesn’t attempt to continue where 2018’s The Sciences left off,” press materials noted. “With significant new blood in the lineup, the album instead finds its own footing — distinctly in the spirit of Sleep’s decades-long legacy, but sharper and more agile.”

The newly minted trio cut Hempispheres at the Melvins’ studio with longtime engineer Toshi Kasai. The sessions saw the band expanding on a handful of ideas that align with both Sleep’s history as stoner rock/doom metal pioneers but also reflect the new direction, evident on the two released cuts “Have Spacesuit Will Travel” and the latest, “The Morrisist.”

Listen to “The Morrisist” below and scroll on for Sleep’s upcoming fall tour dates:

Hempispheres Tracklist:

1. Have Spacesuit Will Travel
2. The Morrisist
3. Hempispheres
4. Arrival of the Industry Ships
5. Whole Wheat Mountain Well Baked