Nightshift: Homosapien (Coloured Vinyl LP)

It’s been three years since Glasgow musical collective Nightshift last album (Zöe, 2021) & aside from an odds & sods tape compilation Made Of The Earth, the group has remained relatively quiet on the recorded front. Newly regrouped into a quartet, the band has readied their proper follow up to Zöe & their third album Homosapien, again for Chicago’s Trouble In Mind Records.

Recorded & mixed in the band’s rehearsal space by members Chris White & Rob Alexander, Homosapien started to take shape in Summer 2023. Writing had begun prior, but due to a crucial lineup change, the band had to start again. Thankfully, once they regrouped, the assembly and recording of the new set of songs was fun and relatively quick.

Nightshift newest songs were born out of some genuinely existential times (birth, death and love all played a very real part in the gestation of the new record). Songs like first single “Crystal Ball”, “Cut” & “Side Effects” all touch upon struggle created by an ever encroaching fascist government (exacerbated by Brexit) & the effects austerity has upon their people. Other songs like “Sure Look”, “Phone” & “Crush” deal with matters of the heart while “Your Good Self” & “Together We Roll” take on self-preservation & community.

It’s a great irony that the band are sculpting their most succinct and tuneful music yet from this potential chaos, but it’s this unexpected quality that drives them onwards into a dizzying universe.

Technicolour Fruit Basket vinyl version.

1. Crystal Ball
   
2. Sure Look
   
3. Together We Roll
   
4. S.U.V.
   
5. Your Good Self
   
6. Cut
   
7. Side Effects
   
8. Phone
   
9. Y.T. Tutorial
   
10. Mellow Baby
    
11. Crush