With their 2024 eponymous debut, The Sleeveens — lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Stefan Murphy, lead guitarist Eli Steele, bassist James Mechan and drummer Ryan Sweeney — established themselves as one of the most promising bands on Nashville’s punk scene. With the release of their second album National Anthem May 1 (via storied Memphis indie label Goner Records), the power-punk quartet more than delivers on that promise.
Recorded and mixed by Mechan, the record is sonically superior to their first album, but that’s not to suggest it is more polished. The Sleeveens are a tight group that has one foot in punk and one foot in power pop. The result is an album that is simultaneously fast, loud and aggressive, as well as melodic and hooky. Murphy, an Irishman native of Dublin, is a dynamic vocalist and a clever writer whose songs reflect a heightened sense of humor and a rebellious social conscience. The record features 11 raucous originals by Murphy and one cover: an inspired interpretation of The Walkmen’s 2004 indie hit “The Rat.”
Lyrically, National Anthem covers a variety of topics. As one would expect, there’s drink, drugs and sex, but also the slaughter of indigenous people, debt and death. There’s even a song about a song about a song about the death of Kurt Cobain, dedicated to Irish singer CMAT.
The album closes with the title cut, Murphy’s most political song. It’s a brutal take on life in the U.S. under Donald Trump in which he encourages Americans to “Burn your fucking country to the ground in the name of love.” In it, he addresses our treatment of military veterans, ICE’s murder of innocent civilians and genocide in Palestine. In the album’s liner notes, he clarifies his position: “DO NOT burn your country to the ground,” he writes, “Do, however, think about what you can do to alter the course of its descent into Hell's seventh circle. Do this in the name of love!”
For updates, keep an eye on the band’s Instagram profile.
