I Can Feel the Night Around Me is the third LP from
Nightlands, the solo project of Dave Hartley. By the time of its release, he'd be better known as bassist for
the War on Drugs, who had a critical and commercial breakthrough in 2014 with
Lost in the Dream. Using his 2013 sophomore LP,
Oak Island, as a launching point, he glides into even mellower, more sentimental territory here for a set of brazenly unapologetic love songs. Followers of the harmony-rich, pseudo-mechanical dream pop of the "silver man" (the project's android-like persona) may be properly acclimated, but newcomers should prep their ears for an updated and uniquely
Nightlands twist on '70s and early-'80s soft prog rock along the lines of the better-known hits of
the Alan Parsons Project, but as if delivered by tractor beam. The scene is set with a palette of electric bass (with expectedly lovely basslines), a mix of acoustic and electronic drums and guitar, glistening keyboards, and processed, robotic vocals, and titles like "Moonbathing," Easy Does It," and "You're Silver." While there are some elegant, wistful passages along the way ("Love's in Love") much of it plays, to varying degrees, with a wink and a blown kiss via over-the-top touches that keep the record from being submerged into an ambient nostalgia. It's hard not to smile, for instance, at the whistle-toned hook and spoken emphasis in "Depending on You." ("I'm depending on you. It's true.") The sprawling "Fear of Flying," with its dense layers of harmonic vocal tracks and meep-ish synth tones, achieves a sort of outer-space lounge sound, and Hartley's a one-man
Beach Boy on the album's lone cover, the
Phil Spector-
Gerry Goffin tune "Only You Know," originally performed by
Dion. Maybe
Nightlands is always in character here, the
Father John Misty of UFO pop ballads, or maybe he means every one of its more mawkish moments. Regardless, he pulls it off with style, relentless musicality, production wizardry, and really good songs. Perhaps resistance is futile. [
I Can Feel the Night Around Me was also released on LP.] ~ Marcy Donelson