Max Lewis and Mirza Ramic comprise the American indie electronic duo Arms and Sleepers. Their lush, evocative compositions typically weave in slow, crunchy breakbeats, atmospheric guitars, delicate piano melodies, and soft glitches. Much of the material remains instrumental, yet vocals surface at intervals, above all on the 2009 full-length Matador and the 2017 hip-hop-leaning Life Is Everywhere. The pair defy simple classification, although their work recalls trip-hop, the calmer side of post-rock, and the cinematic side of ambient music.
Lewis and Ramic launched Arms and Sleepers in Boston in 2006 once their earlier band, the Maine-based post-rock group the List Exists, disbanded after three years. They entered the recorded realm with the EP Bliss Was It in That Dawn to Be Alive, issued by New Jersey-based Fake Chapter Records. A cluster of 2007 releases arrived next, among them the EPs Lautlos and Arms and Sleepers plus the full-lengths Cinématique and Black Paris 86, the latter serving as the duo’s proper debut album and appearing on CD via Expect Candy Records and on vinyl via Ericrock. After the 2009 EP The Motorist came the second album Matador, their most vocal-oriented work to that point. From the Inland Sea, a split EP with the American Dollar, closed the year. Limited editions of Matador B-sides and remixes preceded the 2011 full-lengths Nostalgia for the Absolute and The Organ Hearts as well as the A Man, a Plan, a Canal: Panama EP.
Arms and Sleepers entered hiatus in 2012. They resurfaced in 2014 with the single “Hurry Slowly,” included on the full-length Swim Team, an album that foregrounded syrupy beats and manipulated vocal samples more prominently than earlier efforts. The EPs Force Majeure and AAS X SG, the latter a split with Sun Glitters, surfaced in 2015, while Miami, Tiger Tempo, and Swim Team Remixed followed in 2016. The duo also joined rapper Serengeti for the single “Hollow Body Hold.” That track featured on the 2017 full-length Life Is Everywhere, which additionally included collaborations with MC Airøspace. The album initiated an especially prolific stretch, as Arms and Sleepers issued two further full-lengths, 2018’s Find the Right Place and 2020’s Safe Area Earth, the latter tilting even more toward their ambient inclinations.
