Dave Hartley, the one-man force that is Nightlands, emerges from the electronic shadows with his second album, Oak Island, out this week on Secretly Canadian. After “inviting [us] for just a little while, to a place [he] used to go when he was only 17” on opener “Time and Place,” Hartley allows that world of beautiful harmonies, soft acoustics, and masterfully rendered synthetic sounds to unfurl gently like rolling hills. The opener serves as a representative sample of the sounds to come; of course, soft synths stretch out, harmonious melodies abound, but there are also crisp acoustics and eventually upbeat snares that indicate the album will have its energetic moments. Hartely delivers all this and more.
Oak Island offers one of its best tracks in “So Far So Long,” where easy, smooth-jazz saxes wah behind a groovy, somber melody that acts as a mental glue, sticking in your mind for days. Acoustic guitars improbably kick off “Nico” before Hartley tapers it with processed vocals and electronic drums. As one of the album’s most upbeat songs, it’s a treasure.
Hartley dares us not to bob our proverbial heads on “Born to Love” before providing the album’s second-shortest and most rocking track, “I Fell in Love with a Feeling.” Here, the brass announces itself more clearly, Hartley’s vocals are at their most unfiltered, and a steady beat defines the song’s structure. A definite highlight, it’s also the most divergent track on the album.
I found the funk and rapid-fire vocal delivery of “Rolling Down the Hill” to be the weakest point on the album, but Hartley quickly reorients himself for the closing two tracks, offering parting gems. I love “Other People’s Pockets” in all its spacey-church-hymn glory.
As the album comes to an end, its brevity is striking. At only 33 minutes, Hartley has played his hand perfectly, offering enough to satisfy but stopping short of satiating or saturating. For an album of electronic soundscapes, the songs are surprisingly focused and brief—a quality that leans them in the direction of pop and strikes a vital balance. As an album that should be taken as a whole, Oak Island is a triumph, a cohesive vision by an artist defining himself.
