Sleeper

Sleeper crafted several enduring Brit-pop tracks that helped secure three Top Ten albums, among them the platinum-certified The It Girl from 1996. Their version of Blondie’s “Atomic” appeared both in the film Trainspotting and on its accompanying soundtrack. Two decades after issuing their third album, the band reconvened and delivered The Modern Age in 2019 before issuing This Time Tomorrow two years later.

Louise Wener (vocals, guitar) and Jon Stewart (guitar) formed Sleeper, later completing the original lineup with drummer Andy Maclure and bassist Diid Osman. The pair first crossed paths as politics students in Manchester, England, then moved to London where they enlisted Maclure and Osman to perform Wener’s own material. Their initial recordings surfaced in 1993 and earned favorable notices from the British music press; by November they had issued the independent single “Alice in Vain.” “Swallow,” released the following February, reached the Top 100, while “Delicious” arrived in May and topped the independent chart. That same month Sleeper opened for Blur throughout the Parklife tour.

Smart, their debut album, entered the U.K. chart at number five and the independent chart at number one upon its February 1995 release and earned silver certification within four months. Issued stateside the next month, it garnered positive notices yet never matched the band’s domestic commercial impact. The It Girl followed in May 1996; propelled by the singles “What Do I Do Now?,” “Sale of the Century,” and “Nice Guy Eddie”—the latter two peaking at number ten—the album became Sleeper’s strongest seller. The group also drew notice for their cover of “Atomic,” cut for Trainspotting once Blondie withheld the original track from the soundtrack.

Pleased to Meet You arrived in October 1997 with bassist Chris Giammalvo replacing Osman; the silver-certified set yielded two further Top 40 hits before the band dissolved. Wener subsequently concentrated on writing and released the memoir Different for Girls in 2010.

Reuniting with bassist Kieron Pepper, Sleeper played a one-off Brit-pop festival date in 2017 that led to a full tour the next year. They then returned to the studio with longtime producer Stephen Street to record The Modern Age, released in April 2019. This Time Tomorrow followed in 2021, drawing on previously unreleased tracks from earlier sessions—including one that featured backing vocals from George Michael.