Nearly two years after announcing them as an addition to our roster, San Diego's favorite instrumental prog-metal group, Sleeping People, finally unleashes its debut album.

Though aptly described as a "pleasant headache," Sleeping People are more concerned with filling your headspace than hurting it.

They build up elaborate song structures, only to deconstruct them through a series of complexities that would most certainly run away from themselves without the group's rigorous-yet-fluid control.

Recorded on analog tape by brother-producer tag team Jay and Ian Pellici (Deerhoof, Rumah Sakit, Dilute), Sleeping People is rich with clarity and depth.

Tonally similar to early Yes albums, and bearing more than a passing resemblance to classic King Crimson, it is an album of stunning complexity that never abandons the thoughtful melodicism that carries all great records.

Featuring past and present members of Pinback, Tarentel, Rumah Sakit and Howard Hello, Sleeping People's pedigree no doubt partly explains its fascination with trance-like repetition and aggressive time signature changes.

But nothing about the group adequately explains why every one of their songs makes you feel like you're being chased by the cops.