The Nightjars – The Nightjars

The Nightjars open their album with a song which I can only describe as a shapeless mess. The band plough their way through a sludgy pop-rock number with a rapid, half-spoken vocal line boasting no discernable rhythmical flow or melody. The lead singer barely seems to take a breath throughout the whole affair as he rambles about “corporate puppets” (massive cringe moment) and some girl whilst the guitars swamp the whole proceedings in a poorly produced haze. To be blunt: after hearing this track, the idea of wading through a whole album of Nightjars material feels more like a chore than it does enticing.

It comes as a refreshing surprise, then, that the following track, ‘Valentine’ sounds like it was written by a completely different band. Instantly, the production feels less muggy and more spacious, allowing the band to more tenderly nurture a down-tempo, country-tinged lilt.  Furthermore, the primary complaint of the opening track is addressed insofar as they introduce some simple hooks into what are now discernable verses and choruses. Indeed, the other highlight of the album, ‘We Fall’, plays to very similar strengths. Once again we see the band take a restrained approach to their arrangements with a light drumbeat and bassline being the primary backdrop to the vocal line. With the harsh guitar tones removed, coupled with the slower tempo than most tracks, the band are audibly able to breathe a little and cultivate a more memorable song. The hooks, again, are simple little delights and all the more effective for it; almost haunting in their simplicity.

However, the album ultimately leans further towards the president set by its opening track ‘In A Fine Light’ than it does to the handful of more simplistic and spacious, hook-laden ditties. The true album lowlight is undoubtedly ‘Machines Down’ where an annoying melodic refrain (think nursery rhyme) alerts us to the fact that “The machines have already gone down” over, and over, and over again. By about a minute into the track, you’re perfectly aware that the machines are down yet the Nightjars feel the need to spend another two minutes reminding you of this; the switch from singing to shouting being the only variation. In most songs, however, it’s the production which scuppers the track more than the band themselves.  The guitar tones wash out the songs and sound totally unremarkable. Similarly, vocal levels tend to wildly fluctuate in volume and sound quality; there’s plenty of hard Ps on offer here. This leads to a weird, disjointed feel to some songs such as the call-and-response vocals in ‘Defeated’ where the poor production distracts from the competent hooks.

One imagines The Nightjars to thrive more in the live setting where the guitar tones are more enveloping and their interplay can shine through as well as the listener being able to appreciate the hooks to a greater degree when they appear. On this record though, at its best, The Nightjars sound like a band you’ve heard before. At its worst, The Nightjars sound like a band you never really want to hear again.