The Sleeper (album)

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox album

| name = The Sleeper

| type = studio

| artist = The Leisure Society

| cover = The Sleeper cover.jpg

| alt =

| released = 30 March 2009

| recorded =

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = Folk-pop

| length = 38:53

| label = Willkommen

| producer =

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title = Into the Murky Water

| next_year = 2011

}}

The Sleeper is the first studio album by English indie folk band The Leisure Society.

Their self-produced debut album, The Sleeper was initially released on 30 March 2009 on Willkommen Records.[http://www.willkommenrecords.co.uk/shop/releases/the-leisure-society-the-sleeper Willkommenrecords.co.uk] It received lavish critical praise,[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/mar/15/leisure-society-sleeper-album-review Guardian.co.uk] being named a Rough Trade album of 2009.[http://www.roughtrade.com/site/content.lasso?page=aoy_2009.html Roughtrade.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822100139/http://www.roughtrade.com/site/content.lasso?page=aoy_2009.html |date=22 August 2010 }}

The first single from the album, "The Last of the Melting Snow'", was released on 15 December 2008 and has received extensive radio play on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show,[https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/zanelowe/tracklistingarchive.shtml?20081106 BBC.co.uk] Marc Riley's BBC 6 Music show[https://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/marc_riley/tracklisting_20081113.shtml BBC.co.uk] Lauren Laverne's 6 Music show[https://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/lauren_laverne/tracklisting.shtml?y=2008&d=20081115 BBC.co.uk] and Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie's Radio 2 show, where they were voted 'Record of the Week' by listeners with a record 90% of the vote.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/radcliffemaconie/playlist_mon.shtml BBC.co.uk] Marc Riley also invited them to perform a live session for 6music on 15 December and Mark Radcliffe tipped the single as a candidate for a left field Christmas number one. Guy Garvey named the song his favourite of 2008 and has been a vocal supporter of The Leisure Society continually since then. "The Last of the Melting Snow" received a nomination in the Ivor Novello Awards 2009 for Best Song Musically/Lyrically, competing against Elbow and The Last Shadow Puppets. Hemming told The Times that he "spent New Year's Eve sitting on the floor with a bottle of vodka, writing 'The Last of the Melting Snow'" after breaking up with his girlfriend.[http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=15420 The Last of the Melting Snow Songfacts]

The second single from The Sleeper is entitled "A Matter of Time" and was released on 16 March. The band were invited to perform live sessions on both Radcliffe & Maconie (where the song was once again voted 'Record of The Week' by listeners) and Dermot O'Leary's Radio 2 shows.{{fact|date=October 2024}}

After having signed to Full Time Hobby, the band re-released The Sleeper with a bonus EP containing 8 additional recordings, comprising unreleased demos, B-sides and new recordings, including a cover of "Cars" by Gary Numan and a new single version of "Save It For Someone Who Cares". A session for Dermot O'Leary was recorded on 14 September 2009.{{fact|date=October 2024}}