“Turn Into Vapour is a summation of everything the Halifax indie scene can offer. The lyrics are smart but unselfconscious, the music ambitious without burying the pop hooks and the production clean but retaining a raw edge. Early standouts include “Got Caught” and “Allyson Got Robbed” with its memorable refrain, “get your goddamn hands of off my girl.” – The Coast
I don’t remember how exactly we met Sleepless Nights but I do remember feeling as though they were family the moment we saw them perform. They quickly became our Halifax allies and we saw a lot of each other in the early aughts. So when they were getting ready to release their next record I’m not even sure if anyone made a formal offer/request, it was just (correctly) assumed that Forward would help release it.
From singer/guitarist/producer Aaron Wallace:
I wish I could remember more about the making of Turn Into Vapour but when I see pictures from that time I feel good. We had a great workspace where I could stay up all night and work on dumb recording ideas. I put 100s of hours experimenting with sound for this record. I recorded anyone who came by and if no one was around I just played whatever was to be recorded myself. This was done around the same time as the Jamz EP and you can hear some similar sounds.
Listening to it now I always think I could remix this and do such a better job but the hard drive it’s on went missing in action. It’s probably for the best though. I’d rather it be a document of where we were at than go down the same road as the Zappas and Pink Floyds and deliver a characterless septaphonic HD 23.6 disc box set.
From drummer Josh Pothier:
My main memory of Turn Into Vapour was recording the drums one drum at a time – I would sit at the kit and Aaron would mic the kick and mute the snare and toms with blankets or pillows. Then we’d do the snare and mute the kick & toms, and so on. This was so each drum would sound as clean as possible with no bleed or overtones from other drums. We didn’t have a full scale recording facility, we had a converted shed-studio and some mics that I think Aaron had actually built himself. The whole thing was a DIY operation and to me it gives those songs some extra character.