First off, fuck this song title. "Get real sleep." Shut up! I know! I'm trying! Jesus Christ, how does anybody do that? All over the world, people are getting so many hours of sound, restorative rest for, what, eight hours a night? Must be nice. That's what you're supposed to do, but some of us are constitutionally unable to relax enough to sleep properly. I know all the techniques that you're supposed to use to make yourself sleep, but all of them are so fucking boring. Who has the discipline to not watch half-remembered movie scenes on YouTube at three in the morning?
The title of "Get Real Sleep" is not a command. If anything, it's a lament: "I could take care of my needs if I could only get real sleep." I feel you, buddy. Noah Weinman, the man who records as Runnner, lists off all the things that you're supposed to do to achieve that titular objective, turning the litany into a polished but personal reflection. In a press release, Weinman says, "I first started writing this song years ago, I was thinking a lot about 'real sleep.' We say it all the time, and it’s funny to me that there’s this concept of actual sleep vs. bad sleep. Sonically, I wanted it to be sort of hypnotic but also a bit frantic, like the push/pull of actively trying to sleep."
"Get Real Sleep" appears on A Welcome Kind Of Weakness, the new album that Runnner will release next month. Weinman cranked out a bunch of singles before he announced the LP, so we've already heard a ton of songs: "Untitled October Song," "Coinstar," "Spackle," "Chamomile," "Achilles And." The new track is single number six, which means we have now heard more than half of this 11-song album. Watch the Maya Ragazzo-directed "Get Real Sleep" video below.
A Welcome Kind Of Weakness is out 8/26 on Run For Cover.
