Singles

The Nightjars - Cease To Exist/Disabuse

Stephen Bray 21/11/2006

Rating: 2/5

The Nightjars seem to be a Manchester based band. I believe this because I played with them once, and I note that this single was produced in Stockport. When I saw them, I found them to be largely decent, but found the songs to be seriously overlong. Will the single format suit their distinctly un-singley style?

Lead track, 'Cease To Exist' walks a confused line between early 70s power pop and unfocussed shoe-gazing. The drum sound is pretty terrible, but the rest of the production is decent, 'though hardly an advertisement for Amplisound Studio. Unfortunately, the song never really seems to really kick in and the chorus might as well have been the verse for all the effect it has on making you sit up and take notice. After a fairly uninspiring few minutes, the song runs out of things to do and simply fades out. A very poor representation of the decent live band that this lot are.

B-Side, 'Disabuse' toes the power pop line more than its predecessor although, instead of adding a touch of messy shoegazing, this time they add a touch of 80s cock-rock with a few wailing guitars going off in the background. The chorus on this track stands out rather more than that on 'Cease To Exist' did, but although it's more in evidence, that still doesn't mean that it's much good. Just as one is beginning to give up all hope for this CD, the last two minutes of this track see us enter the more traditional Nightjars territory of meandering off into solos and different tempos. It's never really been my thing, but at least it is their own style and shows a significant glimmer of how well they can work live.

It feels as if the Nightjars have compromised their usual format into trying to make a poppy single. They really shouldn't have gone down this avenue as it's taken away from them everything that made them standout. Better luck next time, I hope…