Philadelphia, Pa.
Futuristic Soft Rock
www.nightlands.us

Nightlands, the solo project of The War on Drugs multi-instrumentalist Dave Hartley, formed during the extended period of gestation that took place between his main band’s first two records. With the process extending for more than three years, Hartley stepped out of his role as a sideman and entered the studio to create what would become the basis of Nightlands. “I’d never written a song before and I was 28 years old,” admits Hartley. “If you haven’t written a song by that point, you wonder if you’re even capable of doing it.” Named after a word that appears in a pair of his favorite books – Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey – Nightlands plays futuristic soft rock, multilayered with synths, shimmering guitars and dreamy ELO-style vocals. The son of a genetic engineer, Hartley approaches his music with a very analytical method like a scientist. “For a long time, it created this cognitive dissonance where I felt like I couldn’t record music because I didn’t have the right brain for it. Then, I realized I should just be myself – a nerdy, science-y geek in the lab.”

Nightlands, the solo project of The War on Drugs multi-instrumentalist Dave Hartley, formed during the extended period of gestation that took place between his main band’s first two records…