Avery Laird has a knack for making life harder than it needs to be. At least, that’s the impression you get from Sleepwalker, the Toronto-based indie alt-country artist’s debut album. Part breakup aftermath, part existential head-scratching, it’s a record about getting stuck in your own patterns and wondering why the exit is so hard to find.
Waiting for Life to Start
Laird began writing Sleepwalker in early 2023, while dealing with a failed relationship and a job that left him feeling overwhelmed and unfulfilled. “I was always waiting for my life to start,” he says. It’s a painfully relatable admission, especially if you’ve ever caught yourself putting happiness on hold until everything else falls into place.
The album took its time coming together, too. After writing four songs, Laird brought in friend and JUNO-nominated producer Jon Savard, known for his work with Alexisonfire and Broken Social Scene. Between a demanding work schedule and a move to Redmond, Washington, in 2024, progress came in fits and starts. He even wrote and recorded demos for “Lucky” and “Figure It Out” from his hotel room. The album finally came together in late 2025, with singles “Doomed” and “Lucky” earning airplay on KEXP and SiriusXM.
From Folk Rock to Something Stranger
Musically, Sleepwalker refuses to sit still. Its opening four tracks lean into folk rock before “Every Corner” takes a sharp turn toward grunge and post-punk. From there, the record gradually brings its influences together, landing somewhere between ’90s grunge and modern alt-country.
Then there’s “Figure It Out,” the closing track, which apparently sounds like Black Country, New Road scoring Birdman. That’s a wonderfully odd reference point, and a good hint that Laird isn’t interested in playing it safe.
Underneath the shifting sounds is a nagging desire to start over, to smooth out the rough edges and stop making the same mistakes. Whether that transformation actually happens is another question. Sleepwalker doesn’t pretend to have the answers. It just keeps asking the uncomfortable ones, and sometimes that’s a pretty good place to start.
