Last September, I introduced my esteemed readers to the marvelous Iowa indie rock band Halfloves when I reviewed their single “Bass Drum”, a pleasing but bittersweet song touching on the painful remembrance of good times spent together in love and regret over past mistakes and what could have been. Now the talented Iowa City-based five-piece returns with “Just Wanna Sleep“, a delightfully infectious song about a decidedly darker subject, namely wanting to escape feelings of anxiety and depression. 

From what I can tell from a search through their Facebook account, Halfloves was formed around 2015 from what had formerly been the band The Olympics, of whom some of the current lineup were members, and consists of Jeff (lead vocals & guitar), Nate (guitar & bass), Trevor (keys), Lucas (bass & guitar), and Zach (drums). In addition to being talented musicians, the guys are incredibly funny and personable, with an endearing sense of playfulness, as evidenced by these wonderful photos by Alisabeth Von Presley. They appear to genuinely like each other and enjoy being in a band together, and I’ve grown quite fond of them as well.

“Just Wanna Sleep” was written by band keyboardist Trevor Polk as a sort of therapy to address what he described as “yet another bout of serious depression and exhausting burnout“. Recalling the sunshine-drenched joy he experienced while biking through the Iowa hills, listening to 60s rock & roll on his earbuds and singing along to Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Little Richard, he felt “inspired by the raucously joyful performances and raw simplicity in the production of that pioneering decade.”

When I asked the band about the unusual single artwork, consisting of Trevor in partial makeup and a sleeveless black dress, lying on a floor with a person’s high-heeled shoe (emblazoned with the band’s name) pressing on his face, Trevor graciously provided an honest soul-baring explanation for it all. His response is so eloquent I’ll just quote the entire thing:

“To be honest, the origin of image just sorta came to me, like a vision, without much intellectualization. That said, after the fact, I have connected the ideas of my unconscious represented in the symbols of this photo. The makeup & cross dressing refers to the lyric in the bridge: ‘why does life feel like a drag?’ It’s a double entendre. The obvious meaning being the literal interpretation — why does life feel difficult & unhappy right now? The second plays on the idea of ‘drag’ as the performance of exaggerated femininity. This idea is packed with connections to me. Firstly, it’s the idea of feeling the pressure to, in the midst of hopeless depression, put on a glammy, happy performance. ‘The show must go on.’ It’s the mask we wear in public to hide our sadness, for fear of bringing others down.

Secondly, it relates to the inner conflict that comes from being an artist with the dream of making a career out of my musical/creative expression, but having a full-time day job that seems to suck me into itself deeper & deeper the further I go in life. Being immersed in what I viewed as shallow, transactional corporate culture (I work in tech), despite longing for more depth in relationships & meaning that aligns with my deepest values, I felt thrusted into dressing up as something I’m not. Adjacent to that, but almost opposite in how the symbol of drag applies, it represents the insecurity I felt of carrying, as Jung calls it, my anima, my femininity, my Yin, in addition to my animus, my masculinity, my Yang. Tech corporate culture has a lot of confident bravado, and to be a man who cries & has big feelings felt scary & weak (though it’s not).

As for the heel, this also plays on two paradoxical ideas presented in the lyric ‘woke up with a boot on my face.’ The first is straightforward: being under the heel of the boot of ‘The Man.’ Simultaneously, the pressure I put on myself to realize my dream, plunging me into the mire of want, not accepting the reality I face with gratitude, knowing the obstacle is the path, is like the heel of the wild creative draggy performer on my head. Both opposite pressures manifesting in chronic migraines from a severe cognitive dissonance. Lastly, the cried-out makeup is emphasizing the depressive sadness.”

Like all their music, “Just Wanna Sleep” was produced by Brandon Darner, engineered by Micah Natera, and mastered by Doug Van Sloun at Focus Mastering. The song has a more garage rock vibe than many of their songs, and opens with a gentle little guitar riff that’s soon joined by Zach’s assertive tapping drumbeats. The music continues to build with the addition of a thumping bassline, grungy guitars and heavier drums, all of which quickly explode into a spine-tingling barrage of shredded guitars and crashing cymbals in the choruses. I don’t know whether Lucas or Nate is playing bass on this track, but it’s really outstanding. The song is terrific, and I love it more with each listen.

Jeff normally handles lead vocals on all Halfloves songs, but in this case, he felt Trevor should be the one to sing it. He does a fine job with his quirky and charming vocals that go from raspy to falsetto with ease. He almost sounds a bit like Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler in the choruses.

Woke up this morning with a boot on my face,
Can’t get myself up off of this comfy place,
Cause I’m going through a difficult time,
Don’t wanna talk to people or tell them I’m fine,
I’d rather pull the covers up over my face,
Sink into bed till the middle of the day,
I’m not feeling well, I’m feeling quite weak
How many times I gotta tell you (that) I just wanna..

Sleep, I just wanna sleep
Oh-oh-oh, just wanna sleep

Dreamin’ of a future where I don’t have to work,
Where I have all the time, and my face has a smirk,
Cause I stayed in my room till a quarter past noon,
And I did nothing, and that was cool

I just wanna sleep
Oh-oh-oh just wanna sleep
I-I-I just wanna sleep

Why does life feel like a drag?
Why can’t I get past the thoughts in my head?
I think I might lay down again and fall asleep

Woke up this morning with a boot on my face,
Can’t get myself up

I just wanna sleep
Oh-oh-oh just wanna sleep
I-I-I just wanna sleep
Ooh, I just wanna sleep

Why does life feel like a drag?
Why can’t I get past the thoughts in my head?
I think I might lay down again and fall asleep

The hilarious and touching video was shot and edited by Nate Cooper, and shows Trevor singing the song wearing a sleeveless black dress and runny makeup, interspersed with scenes of a high heel, worn by friend of the band Max Holtz, pressing on his face.

Halfloves Socials:  Facebook / Twitter (X) / Instagram / TikTok

Find their music on Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / Soundcloud / YouTube