Sleeping States

Sleeping States is the eclectic, folky solo project of former Kaito member Markland Starkie. Growing up in Bristol, Markland studied in Norwich before moving to London, where he began recording as Sleeping States on a cassette four-track recorder using his roommate's broken guitar. The music is predominantly melodic, song-based and guitar-based, but from there swings from quite folk to noisy punk-pop to overdubbed choral drones, generally presented under a homemade, lo-fi aesthetic.

Sleeping States 2007's full-length There Are the Open Spaces was released on Misra, as well as handling US distribution for the EP Old vs. New (released by Bella Union in Europe).

Markland Starkie continues to perform and record independently.