“Counting Sheep” by SAFIA

SAFIA put out "Counting Sheep" as a single on 13 March 2015, and it later found a home on their Embracing Me EP. The Australian electronic group made it an unsettling ode to insomnia, strings and all, and member Ben Woolner framed it as the evil sibling of their previous single, "Paranoia, Ghosts & Other Sounds". Sosefina Fuamoli of theaureview heard a cool marriage of synths and pop instincts that set them a little apart from the rest of the indietronica pack.

The video, first posted to YouTube on 15 April 2015, leans all the way into the sleeplessness: at a lakeside Stop Revive Survive rest stop on a highway, voices warn against dozing off while a ghoul climbs out of a chained box on the back of an open truck and leaves a crew of men in black, fresh out of their dark cars, spellbound.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.