An emerging indie rock band out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, The Sleeping World features original songs by Jessica Smucker Falcon, a successful poet whose recent foray into the music world has birthed a new breed of sinister love songs. Melding her literary sensibilities with her breathy, intimate voice, Smucker Falcon is able to accurately, and painfully, describe not just the external world but the inner depths of her being in a way that draws the listener in to an experience that can be both cathartic and uncomfortable. Comparable to groups like 10,000 Maniacs and Over the Rhine in both sound and scope, The Sleeping World strives to create music that matters, music that can make some impact on the state of the world. The music comes first, but the message is never far behind--issues of faith, sensuality, relationships, where the past meets the present and hints at possible futures. Thematically, The Sleeping World resembles U2 in its exploration of the co-existence of the secular and the sacred--but whereas U2 reaches outward toward global definition, Smucker Falcon looks within, bravely asserting her personal stories and insights as little mirrors for the world. Smucker Falcon is surrounded by some of the Central PA region's finest musicians. Tommy Leanza, whose nearly 30-year music career has taken him from Lancaster to Los Angeles to Austin, TX and back, employs the kind of sensitive and versatile drumming a good lyricist needs. Schooled in jazz guitar, a proficient mandolin player with a 20-year music career under his belt, Matt Underhill breathes creative energy and life into The Sleeping World’s arrangements. Rob Nye spent much of his early music career in North Carolina, working with renowned banjo player Ryan Cavanaugh. His background as a drummer paved the way for his rhythmic mastery of the bass. He contributes to The Sleeping World's broad creative pallet with an extensive background in funk, jazz, bluegrass and rock. With sweet, airy harmonies and impeccable instincts, background vocalist Erin Mattern provides the perfect finishing touch to this ensemble. Formed in early 2007, The Sleeping World quickly gained notoriety in the Lancaster, PA music scene, and has begun breaking into other regional markets. This isn't the kind of band to trickle into listeners' consciousness and win them over time; they take their audiences by storm, eliciting immediate visceral reactions and commanding the attention of new devotees everywhere they go. ================= Reviews: "The songs are woven with a sort of defiant sadness, a square-jawed resilience that only comes once you've been knocked off your feet a few times and lived to tell about it...At times lilting, shuffling, uplifting and melancholic, the music is also characterized by a certain menacing factor, something sinister lurking just under the surface, like swallowed anger." - Jeff Royer, Fly Magazine "The Sleeping World's swirling, ambient sound is the proverbial 'sheep's clothing’ that wraps itself around singer/poet Jessica Smucker Falcon's slightly subversive lyrical reflections on matters sacred and secular." - Steve Ward, singer/songwriter "The Sleeping World...isn't just making sappy love songs to cry to. They strive to create music that will make an impact on the world. Looking inward, Jessica Smucker Falcon opens her heart to listeners, sharing her joys and pains." - Helen Leicht, WXPN Philadelphia