Sleep Tight Tiger - Plum Something (2026)
Artist: Sleep Tight Tiger
Author: Sarah
Date: 03/14/2026
Listen: Bandcamp
About halfway into "Jeannie" (around the time I started singing along to the chorus), I was already starting to write the review in my head. It was going to start something like "Plum Something is a promising (if sometimes anonymous) debut from this cuddlecore revival group" or whatever, and probably mainly focus on "Jeannie" and its instantly infectious chorus that would be a classic if it were 30 years older. I still think I was correct about "Jeannie" being a particular highlight, though the third song forced me to scrap it all and start over again (the moral of the story is don't review an album you haven't finished!) I mean, Plum Something is still cuddlecore for the most part, and it's still a very promising debut, but there's more to it than that.
On "Sweet Dreams", the third song here, Sleep Tight Tiger swerve full on into a darker slowcore sort of thing that really got me off balance, though it's the next song, "Tiny Poem", that really stands out on further listens for me. On that one, they marry Dear Nora-style harmonies with slowcore and a real atmosphere of menace, plus some noisy freakouts (complete with screaming!) just to make sure you don't get too complacent. Honestly, I'm still not quite sure if I'd say I like it or not, but I can say that I haven't really heard much quite like it in indiepop before (aside from maybe a song or two from Pidgeon).
The rest of the album ends up being in more of a conventional cuddlecore mold, with "Skate" and "Jeannie" capturing the style quite well, if (as I was planning to write) not quite unique to Sleep Tight Tiger. Like, if you told me that those were songs released back in the 90s, I'd probably believe you! In particular, I think they sort of remind me of Gaze, or maybe a non-cub Mint Records band. The rest don't quite live up to that high bar, but I do really like the overlapping verses of "Talia" and the 60s-style "oooh la la" backing vocals on "Twist". (Sorry, "Paper Dolls", but the main thing I remember you for is ending so abruptly that I thought my Bandcamp app crashed with one song to go!)
Plum Something actually reminds me a bit of Tigermilk, the way Sleep Tight Tiger has a pretty solid idea of who they are, but tinkers a bit with other styles to see if perhaps those would be a better fit. Right now, it seems to me that they'll likely end up being a dependable member of the indiepop ecosystem, but if they ever manage to combine the hooks of their cuddlecore songs with whatever's going on in "Tiny Poem", Sleep Tight Tiger might end up being a truly special band.