Read it 5 The Selection by Kierra Cass is a teenage readers dream. This Sweet dreams. thrilling story contains a little bit of everything, creating a mix that is one part Hunger Games and one part The Bachelor, set in a castle befitting Cinderella. America, the protagonist, how to catch more lives in a world of castes that determine your profession and your economice class, and she is 5 out of 7; two away from the bottom. She is in love with Apen who is a caste lower than her and wants nothing more than what is best for America, so he Survey shows most teens convinces her to sign up for the selection: the competition put on every year to win the princeses hand. America finds herself don’t get the sleep they need caught up in a life that is more dangerous than she ever could On any given day in any given classroom, it’s not have imagined, avoiding rebel groups that want the crown and unusual to see students yawning, resting their heads angry girls that want the prince for themselves. Anyone who in their hands or on their desks, and even giving in to reads this will find themselves wanting more of America’s story the ever-present temptation to sleep. It’s not news to despite their best efforts, and lucky for them there are two more anyone that teens aren’t getting enough sleep, and we books already out in the series. ~ know we’re suffering from it. Katelynn Tefft Sleep deprivation hinders our ability to learn, listen, concentrate, and solve problems, and it contributes to Hear it poor eating habits and illness. But what do we teenag- Band: Swans ers need to do to fix it? What can we do to improve our Album: To Be Kind sleeping habits? Label: Young God Records An informal survey of Sturgis High School students Are you getting Release Date: May 13th, 2014 shows that on average, we get about 6.5 hours of sleep Genre: Experimental Rock a night. This isn’t good, considering that scientifically, After putting out two albums between 2010 and now, enough sleep? Swans seem to be getting back into the swing of things. a teenager should be getting between 8.5 and 9.25 Which brings us to their newest release, To Be Kind. hours of sleep each night. Snoozing during class can’t If I don't, it's because I'm on my phone Right off the bat you can tell that the band is taking make up for the two hours of undisturbed sleep every a much different approach on To Be Kind than they day, and sleeping in on the weekend makes for irregu- or my new iPad, and if I do, it's because did with their last album. The album opens up with the lar sleep patterns, meaning loss of sleep quality. they're dead. --Madeline Earl song Screenshot, a track that has a slow and daunting guitar riff that loops over and over. However this is no If we want to increase our sleep, it’s important to new grounds for Swans, as repetition is one of the key take steps to improve our sleep. The same survey This year I have been getting enough sleep, elements in all of their music. Although repetitive, it showed that we students at Sturgis High School blame because I've been going to bed earlier. progresses in a way that’s so hypnotizing. The tormented our poor sleeping habits on after school activities, sound of the guitars is perfectly reflected in the album homework, and social media, and it makes sense. High I've been getting to sleep at about ten. art with the picture of a crying baby. Once the percus- --Avery Peterson sion starts in, it becomes even more apparent that this schoolers tend to have full schedules, but it’s important isn’t going to be the grandiose beast that The Seer was. It that we get rid of distractions within that hour or so takes a much more minimalistic route, and doesn’t have before hitting the sack. I usually don't get enough sleep. Some- nearly as much instrumentation going on. In fact, one could say that the style is more in the vein of Post-Punk The National Sleep Foundation recommends that times I go to bed at nine, and other days teenagers develop a bedtime ritual so our bodies know or No-Wave than it is Noise-Rock or Post-Rock, but as at eleven. What keeps me from going to always keeping that Experimental-Rock vibe that the that it’s time for sleep, which includes avoiding elec- band is known to do so well. Once 60 year old frontman tronics, exercise, food, and homework right before bed, bed is Twitter or my dog, Murphy, and Michael Gira’s infamous ominous vocals start in, it com- as these things can make it more difficult to fall asleep. what makes me go to bed is when I'm tired. pliments this new style of music surprisingly well. Take care of those things as early as possible. --Alaina Cholometes Throughout the course of the album themes of being To make it easier to have lots of high quality sleep, triumphant and victorious are present. The lyrics and tone in the vocals throughout the album seem as though it’s important to make our bedrooms quiet, cool, and I do not get enough sleep, probably Gira has overcome some great hardship and can finally dark for when we are going to bed. This will help our be at peace because of this. It may seem odd to say, bodies be more comfortable for sleeping. because I'm in my phone all the time, and considering the darker tone that an unfamiliar listener So perhaps the next time your eyelids begin to get because I have practice until seven. And my would think this album has, but it really doesn’t even heavy in the middle of a boring lecture, when you compare to how dark and torturing some of their other bedtime is at seven. --Lexie Wyatt releases are. Honestly this could practically be consid- realize that 6.5 hours of sleep isn’t quite enough for ered pop-esque by Swans’ standards. high quality learning, it may be just enough to remem- Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with To Be Kind. I feel like ber that you know of a couple ways to improve your No I do not. The reason is because I stay this album manages to be great in its own way, I’m glad sleep... If you’ve made it this far without nodding off. up watching Netflix, and I they took the risk of changing up their production, I just ~ wish that there was a tad bit more thought going into Jenneka Lund drink too much coffee. --Ramiro Flores some of the song writing here. I’d highly recommend this album to anyone that’s a fan of strange experimental music with some post-punk aesthetics here and there. --Adam Welborn.