Last week, two exciting Australian bands announced that they would collaborate on a split CD in 2009. Perth's Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving and Sydney's sleepmakeswaves, both former OzProg featured artists, have been holed up in studios on opposing sides of the country recording material for the split, and thanks to mysterious, sporadic photographic updates from sleepmakeswaves' recording sessions posted to their online forum, anticipation was building even before details of the record had surfaced.

As guitarist Tom Binetter explains, the album will close sleepmakeswaves' current chapter and allow them to move forward with a new sound in the new year. Their well-received debut EP In Today Already Walks Tomorrow — hailed by one reviewer as sounding like "what would happen if Jeff Buckley never sang on his records; full of emotion and featuring many different sections that somehow fuse together to make a perfect whole" — has received attention both in Australia and among the growing post-rock scene worldwide, but Binetter hopes to keep progressing with their first full-length album in 2009.

"The sleepmakeswaves side [of the split] will feature three tracks, two of which have been performed live in recent months and a third which is brand new. The material on the split, particularly the first two songs, were older songs that we felt needed to be recorded before we were done with them. One of the songs in particular was written before some of the material for the [In Today Already Walks Tomorrow] EP was finished. For the album we are going in a slightly new direction so we wanted to tie up the so-called loose ends before progressing."

"What we've been going for is a much more organic live sound, as opposed to the very polished, produced sound of the EP. It's been difficult to find each instrument's delicate sonic space in relation to everyone else's, but after a lot of tweaking each instrument cuts through quite nicely. We've introduced a greater focus on keyboard sounds, including piano, mellotron and other synth sounds. Some of these are in the background, but they fill up areas very nicely."

The plan is to release the split in March of 2009 either through a traditional record distributor or a netlabel such as Lost Children, with whom sleepmakeswaves found success in 2007 distributing their self-titled demo online.

"Releasing our demo on Lost Children," he explains, "was an important step in that international exposure. We've had over 10,000 downloads to date that in turn has created lots of word of mouth support. The internet has been important in that regard."

But regardless of the distribution model, both sleepmakeswaves and Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving hope that what sets each of them apart from the rest of Australia's musical landscape will hold them in good stead. Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving's influences range from free jazz and fusion all the way to heavy metal, and it's much the same for sleepmakeswaves.

"Each member's different musical background helps bring atypical elements into our sound," Binetter says. "In particular, the jazz fusion percussion background of our drummer Will is something that's very unusual when it comes to post-rock drumming. Alex's interest in math rock and IDM, my interest in extreme metal and Kid's in more out-there electronic and ambience all helps too. I don't think we are radical departures from anything else in the genre, but I think this is an example of something different which helps set us apart."

As native Sydney-siders, sleepmakeswaves have ventured forth to Melbourne and Brisbane with their powerful and dynamic live shows only in the past few months, but the response has already been positive.

"To be honest, I find playing at home to be the most difficult crowds. In Sydney we play shows quite often, so you have to win audiences over who are used to you and already desensitised to your performance. Interstate it's a little easier because it's not every day an audience can come and see you, so they are often more enthusiastic which helps spur us along."

They return to Melbourne later this month for the OzProg-sponsored Prog Fest, joining a legion of local prog acts including Ne Obliviscaris, Mushroom Giant and A State Of Flux at the East Brunswick Club on December 27th before taking a breather.

"Not only is coming to Melbourne exciting because of everyone's enthusiasm, but to be on such a brilliant lineup is a real treat for us. In the case of Ne Obliviscaris, if it wasn't enough of a dream to play with them twice already, the third time lucky will be the icing on the cake. Also what makes this festival extra special is the ability to play for and repay OzProg who have been terrific to us in terms of support and exposure, so all in all, its going to be something special."

"Each time we've come down, we've been really blown away by both attendances and enthusiasm. It's also great to see so many different types of people coming to the shows from all walks of life, which is something we most certainly encourage."

"The next few months after that we will be taking some time off to write material for future releases. We'll hopefully be doing our next run of shows in late March or April, but who knows what the future holds."

You can hear the cinematic soundscapes of sleepmakeswaves on their MySpace profile at www.myspace.com/sleepmakeswaves, and catch them in Melbourne for OzProg's Prog Fest on December 27th at the East Brunswick Club.