Nightshift: Homosapien

Chicago’s Trouble In Mind have always been suckers for a sweet hook or three, and perhaps Glasgow’s Nightshift were the catalyst for the label veering off in the direction they have over the past couple of years.

Since their inception in 2020, the four-piece, now consisting of Eothen Stearn (vocals, keys, snare, percussion), Chris White (guitar, vocals, drums), Andrew Doig (bass, voice, melodica) and Rob Alexander (drums, accordion, tin whistle) have been mainstays on the DIY label, feeding into the TiM ethos of continuity. All told, it’s the thing I admire most about the label, and no doubt a confidence boost for their artists, too. It feeds into an unbridled community spirit, and in this instance, it’s another celebration as Nightshift’s Homosapien, their second full-length and follow-up to 2021’s Zöe, is their best yet.

Cities and towns are often identified with a certain sound, and Glasgow is no different. However, Nightshift go further afield on Homosapien. It suits them well, with each band member bringing their strongest ideas to the table, and tossing them into the cooking pot, the results are quite the tasty broth indeed.

Writhing Squares: Mythology

The first spoonful is the swooning slacker pop of Crystal Ball. “Look into my crystal ball / See into the depths of my soul,” sings Stearn with the poetic thrust that echoes Lou Reed. Sonically, Nightshift give us the biggest surprise with something you’d expect to have been conceived from the inner-west of Sydney as opposed to the quaint coffee shops littered across Glasgow.

Perhaps harnessed at the mastering desk by Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Total Control et al), the same can be said with the zany rockabilly of Together We Roll and the breezy S.U.V. On the latter, Stearn gives us a fantasy living exposé in something that is the slacker anthem of 2024 (“Sitting in the back of my S.U.V. with my lovers between me” and “The hours melt away until we have nothing left to say”).

Meanwhile, Sure Look tackles the windy roads and curves balls this life often throws one’s way (“Took 36 years to understand my fears”). So too later with Phone – both songs airy, underground rockers that navigate through the turbulence of love, while the likes of Your Good Self and Side Effects tap into the aftershocks we all sustain as we grow older. The bumps and scrapes of life backed by hooping rhythms that sit somewhere between Love Outside Andromeda and the spiky majesty of Omni.

Like Your Good Self and Side Effects, Cut is another earworm that stays with you for hours on end. Aesthetically, it rubs shoulders with another hidden treasures deep under the cobbles of Glasgow’s city centre: Dragged Up.

Dragged Up Interview: “To us it just makes sense to get out there and play.”

The penultimate title track is a vocal trade-off between Stearn and White. Dream-pop in the ether while closing cut, Crush, sees Nightshift crank up the speed with frayed proto-pop that rumbles with rhythms that tickle the ribcage.

With such an eclectic range of songs, the cohesiveness of Homosapien is its greatest boon, and underpinned by the kind of themes that resonate with the many and not the few, it’s exactly why Nightshift may just break through the ceiling to reach new ears. There’s something for everyone here, and with Nightshift taking their biggest leap forward, people out there would do well to follow them.

Homosapien is out now via Trouble In Mind. Purchase from Bandcamp.