'Towards Light' Album Review - NME Nov 2007

Don't misunderstand The Nightjars. These Mancunian newcomers share a love of Sonic Youth and The Velvet Underground and once played as scratch band for krautrock icon Damo Suzuki (of CAN fame), but they're not half as weird as all that suggests. Polytechnic produced their first demo and that's a far better clue as to what they're up to, namely zippy, bristly guitar pop. That's not too damn them with faint praise, though, as this band are in fact brainy kids with big record collections who can take the best from what they hear and weave their spiky influences though satisfyingly knotty pop songs.

In the lineage of Aztec Camera, Blur, or even Peter, Bjorn and John, The Nightjars really are restless craftsmen of art-pop. And whip-smart tracks such as 'You Set Me Reeling' and 'MDMA' are evidence that they're an audible cut above.

7 / 10

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