Wintersleep offers 'sneak peeks' of new album at Boreal

Given their recent experience at Toronto's North by Northeast Festival, you could hardly blame the Halifax band Wintersleep if they find their upcoming performance at Northern Lights Festival Boreal a bit tame.

The Juno-award-winning indie rock band performed on a moving streetcar at North by Northeast.

“They put us on there and put a sound system in it, and lights, and we cruised around Queen Street, playing our tunes,” said Wintersleep drummer and guitarist Loel Campbell in a phone interview.

“It was kind of a spectacle. There was tons of people chasing the car down the street. I'm not sure it was the most safe event, actually. I was practically falling off my drum stool the whole set.

“It was cool. It was the weirdest show we're ever going to play.”

But that doesn't mean Campbell's not looking forward to playing in Sudbury, where Wintersleep will be Boreal's Sunday night headliner July 6.

Campbell said the band has only played in Sudbury a couple of times, and always in the winter, so he was full of questions about the festival's outdoor venue — Grace Hartman Amphitheatre.

He said he loves playing at summer festivals, and Boreal is only one of three the band will appear at in 2014. “It's just kind of the best-possible scenario, really — music, the outdoors and summer,” Campbell said.

The musician, who describes Wintersleep's style as a “rootsy rock platform with some electronic elements,” said for the Sudbury show, the band will be drawing from the catalogue of music it's developed over the past 13 years.

This will likely include well-received tunes such as “Weighty Ghost” and “Orca.”

But Campbell said the band is also in the process of developing a new album, and will probably throw in some of their new tunes as well.

“I think there will be a couple sneak peeks at the festival,” he said. “I think it's a good place to do that sort of thing.”

Northern Lights Festival Boreal runs July 4-6. For more information about the festival's lineup, or to purchase tickets, visit nlfbsudbury.com.