INTRODUCING: Committee of Sleep

Your music feels incredibly intimate and emotionally open. How did Olly’s 2022 cancer diagnosis shape the way you write, record and connect with listeners?

Olly: Before the cancer stuff there was no songwriting for me. Not in a fleshed out way with words at least. I’d always been in other peoples’ bands, playing bass, trying to push things in a certain vague direction from the sidelines. When I got sick I had this ‘oh shit, I’m going to die’ moment. I didn’t want to go without leaving something complete behind to show I’d been here. That’s how my songwriting journey began, I wrote that one song, and then when I realised I was going to make it, I just kept going. 

Olly: This first generation of Committee of Sleep songs are a product of the ‘I’m going to live, now what?’ feeling. Committee of Sleep, as an idea came about a couple of years after I got better, I called on my two best friend/highschool bandmates to help me document some of these early songs. We got a bnb out in the middle of nowhere, all our rudimentary recording equipment and just made music, ate, slept and drank for five days. It wasn't till we did that for a second time, with a more coherent set of songs and some borrowed better microphones, that the guys said to me, this is something, we should play these songs as a band.

Ruling Overturned explores themes of love, loss, renewal and gratitude — what emotional journey does the EP take us on from start to finish?

Olly: At that second recording session “Bewcastle 2.0”, I brought what I felt were my 6 best songs. Jack would always kid me, ‘Is this one about cancer or your girlfriend’, everytime I’d send him over one of my shitty home demos. The feeling I get from these songs, when I listen to them or when we play them now is that they're really just me trying to put my life back together. 

There are more questions than answers on the EP. I’m really not a fan of when bands or singers try to explain the meaning of stories to the audience, especially at shows. I think I’m just excited to hear what other people make of the songs. They’re not the most illusory in their imagery. Love and death are the universal themes so I’ll just say those. 

“The Planet of Chocolate Bars” was recorded in a rural cottage over New Year’s. How did that environment influence the sound and atmosphere of the track?

Olly: All the songs were recorded in that one session, with various overdubs done in Jack’s home studio. I think Chocolate Bars is my favourite song from the EP, to me its the most reminiscent of how that time felt, both sonically in terms of the recording and the subject matter.

My memory of that trip was mostly Sam mediating between Jack and I when things would get heated, mostly when I was doing my vocals. Rupture and repair, you know? We also drank a shit ton of herbal tea. 

Your sound blends shoegaze, lo-fi pop and DIY experimentation. How do you balance texture and atmosphere with melody and songwriting?

Olly: I’m of the opinion that if it's not compelling when it's just voice and a guitar, then jazzing it up isn't going to make it a great song. That was really the aesthetic I was going for, the arrangements were all built around these very intimate bedroom performances. In terms of DIY, us not really having recording experience, or an idea of what ‘the right way’ to record was, helped in that regard. One of my favourite developments was when I managed to persuade the guys to sing harmonies on one of the songs. That really elevates it for me. The overdubbing process was really informed by how the songs developed in a live setting, when Sam and Jack and Jenny put more of their personality into their parts. Jenny sadly is missing from the EP, but her contribution really shaped how the songs have evolved in a live setting. 

With growing support from radio, press and playlists, how does it feel to see your music connecting with people, and what’s next for Committee of Sleep in 2026?

Olly: I’m shamefully inept with all the real life important stuff that makes a band work, I hide behind the competence of Jack in this arena. It’s kind of surreal to be doing this for anyone other than my neighbors who hear me through the bedroom walls. I love playing shows and we’ve got some really exciting stuff coming up this year. There might even be a Bewcastle 3.0 sooner than you might think.