Nightlands

The project of multi-instrumentalist <a href="spotify:artist:1xRrvWbn0uWdOWDchRfy0U">David Hartley</a>, Nightlands dwells somewhere near the crossroads of dreamy psych-pop, soft rock, and prog rock while revealing a love of experimentation inspired by growing up with a genetic engineer father. A distinctive element of the project's sound is processed vocals by which the singer sometimes adopts the sentimental persona of the "silver man." <a href="spotify:artist:1xRrvWbn0uWdOWDchRfy0U">Hartley</a> is also the bassist for <a href="spotify:artist:6g0mn3tzAds6aVeUYRsryU">the War on Drugs</a>. He had already been with the band for around five years when his Nightlands debut, Forget the Mantra, appeared on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Secretly+Canadian%22">Secretly Canadian</a> in 2010. Some of his <a href="spotify:artist:6g0mn3tzAds6aVeUYRsryU">War on Drugs</a> bandmates were among the guests on subsequent releases, including 2013's Oak Island and 2022's Moonshine, Nightlands' fourth album.

Then based in Philadelphia, <a href="spotify:artist:1xRrvWbn0uWdOWDchRfy0U">Hartley</a> began working on his own music in earnest when <a href="spotify:artist:6g0mn3tzAds6aVeUYRsryU">the War on Drugs</a> album Slave Ambient was taking longer than expected to complete. His first Nightlands album, Forget the Mantra, arrived on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Secretly+Canadian%22">Secretly Canadian</a> in late 2010. Though his duties with <a href="spotify:artist:6g0mn3tzAds6aVeUYRsryU">the War on Drugs</a> -- who released Slave Ambient on the same label in mid-2011 -- kept him busy for much of the following year, he also issued the All the Way and Covers EPs, the latter of which included a gorgeously hazy version of <a href="spotify:artist:3Dzj993UEz8Z5ovxuirzFO">Lindsey Buckingham</a>'s "Trouble." In January 2013, <a href="spotify:artist:1xRrvWbn0uWdOWDchRfy0U">Hartley</a> delivered his second Nightlands album, the emotionally nostalgic Oak Island. It featured contributions from the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:1hCqIsNERHGFKDQ754m47q">Heather Woods Broderick</a>, harpist <a href="spotify:artist:38MKhZmMRHAZRz8LqtKIBw">Mary Lattimore</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:0D3kZ3UzXlxkvwULOlP732">Nick Krill</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:7Frnb4JmaWR38x6Eq6q1tL">Teen Men</a>) in addition to members of <a href="spotify:artist:6g0mn3tzAds6aVeUYRsryU">the War on Drugs</a> including Adam Granduciel (on guitar) and Robbie Bennett (Arp Omni, Juno, keyboards).

<a href="spotify:artist:6g0mn3tzAds6aVeUYRsryU">The War on Drugs</a> had a critical and commercial breakthrough in 2014 with Lost in the Dream and signed with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Atlantic+Records%22">Atlantic Records</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:1xRrvWbn0uWdOWDchRfy0U">Hartley</a> didn't abandon Nightlands, however, releasing the project's third LP, a set of spacy love songs called I Can Feel the Night Around Me, on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Western+Vinyl%22">Western Vinyl</a> in May 2017. It was recorded mostly alone in a basement rehearsal/storage space formerly used by his band.

<a href="spotify:artist:1xRrvWbn0uWdOWDchRfy0U">Hartley</a> became a father and relocated to Asheville, North Carolina, before recording Nightlands' next long-player, July 2022's Moonshine. It featured a number of remote collaborators, including four of his <a href="spotify:artist:6g0mn3tzAds6aVeUYRsryU">War on Drugs</a> bandmates, <a href="spotify:artist:0jDd0XW6WCERDtwSwMMZ0P">Frank LoCrasto</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:2iUVQjheBnvOt8vaBrxXJz">Cass McCombs</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6Qm9stX6XO1a4c7BXQDDgc">Fruit Bats</a>), and producer Adam McDaniel (<a href="spotify:artist:6mKqFxGMS5TGDZI3XkT5Rt">Angel Olsen</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2xLEV2jDreAOcpJXFNoXyt">Hurray for the Riff Raff</a>). ~ Marcy Donelson & Heather Phares, Rovi