By: Martha Kowalski

Start your engines: Nightly is back. Nightly. Is. Back.

After their latest album fell a little flat for me – me: who never imagined being disappointed with my gold standard band! – they are back with a vengeance, going back to their self-proclaimed roots of “songs to drive to” with their newest album songs to drive to.

In this album, Nightly has managed to merge the hazy, twilight magic from night, love you and the energetic bounce of wear your heart out into an album that is equally catchy and meaningful. The composition and style is reminiscent of their earlier works, familiar and consistent, the melodies highlighting their classical band production – though I’m still lacking a bit more guitar from Joey Beretta – and the double-meaning lyrics again telling short stories in the tracks. From the opening song, “tv shows” we get a vivid image of sweet everyday love, until all the feels closing out with “i didn’t know that i needed you.” Sprinkled in between, we get notes of angst, humor, nostalgia, and tenderness – all of which make up some of my favorite tracks.

I’ll start with the song that stands out the most on the album, and that’s “MESS”. It’s harder, has more of an edge to the dreamy-soft tracks that fill out the rest. Here we get the most impact from their signature guitar – rightfully driving the track. Something about it makes me imagine nighttime drag racing in revved up ‘70’s cars under neon streetlamps.

Similar imagery makes the transition from “MESS” to “gas station cowboy hats” very easy. The songs are completely different – in tone and theme – but now I get an early morning road trip picture in my head, one you want to take slow and let the radio play out songs to drive to. There’s a soft sweetness to it that pairs with the mood of “tv shows” nicely.

“don’t even think about it” and “me and my misses” have a very nostalgic feel for me in particular, with the former very similar to “you should probably hang up” from night, love you, including those super cool riffs between the verses that were trademarks on that album. “me and my misses” is just fun – it’s clever, and it almost feels like what “shirt” from wear your heart out could have benefited from.

My favorite song on the album is definitely “time flies when you’re having fun.” Again with surprising wordplay, it’s nothing like the title would suggest. It’s delicate and meaningful, bittersweet and holding a quiet desperation. The storybook lyrics create a vivid imagery, and the structure of the song with Jonathan Capeci’s voice fuses into a very resonant, impactful emotion. I’ll leave it at that and let you listen below:

After wear your heart out, I was definitely holding my breath going into this album, especially with a lot of my other artists really stepping up their game lately, but I am in absolutely in no way disappointed – songs to drive to is what Nightly has promised since their inception and they have delivered. <3