Nighttime changes people. Self-destructive behaviors are more tempting without the judgment of the daytime glow. But night also provides a peaceful, meditative setting for creativity to run wild–a haven to escape one’s day-to-day malaise. Joyer, the Brooklyn-and-Boston-based band of multi-instrumentalist brothers Nick and Shane Sullivan, are fascinated by these after-dark hours. Their new album, Night Songs, is an instantly satisfying amalgam of swirling shoegaze guitars and memorable melodies–all while the duo examines the allure of night and its ability to shapeshift from a mirror for our innermost demons to a shield from the demands of daily drudgery
Joyer formed in New Jersey in 2017, and after releasing two self-recorded demo collections, they released their first studio album, Sun Into Flies, in 2020, followed by Perfect Gray in 2021. Night Songs marks a departure from their hushed slowcore beginnings and displays a more expansive sound—from blowtorched guitars and overtly hooky vocal cadences, to melancholy synths and pastoral lap steel. Their foray into twistier, heavier sonics coincides with the darker nature of nighttime activities, while the more hi-fi, pop-forward vocal direction makes for a fitting contrast, just like the stark clarity that pitch-black skies provide.
The album’s waves of distortion also function as a cathartic foil to the brothers’ quiet, real-life demeanors. The songwriting duties are split evenly between Nick and Shane, but there’s a palpable cohesion in the music, a unified vision that’s always guided the project and continues even with the siblings living in different cities. “We grew up in this small suburban town and there weren’t too many people interested in music so it was convenient to just play with each other and we’ve always had pretty much the same music tastes,” Shane explains. “I just feel like when I’m in a band with Shane I don’t have to compromise,” Nick adds. “Being brothers allows us to be really honest and have a lot of productive criticism because we’re so comfortable with one another, we don’t have to hold back and it helps us achieve what we’re going for.”
Night Songs was written when Joyer embarked on their first lengthy tours, which meant a lot of driving, particularly under calming New England skies, as well as reflection on the surreal, nocturnal lives of touring musicians. As a result, the record is peppered with naturalistic, ephemeral imagery and has a prevailing emotional bittersweetness. There’s a cinematic quality to the band’s music, perhaps a side effect of both Nick and Shane being graduates from film school. “There’s definitely a visual aspect to our music,” says Nick. “Even a lot of lyrics are sort of focused on creating images, almost like painting a picture.” These visions of singing whippoorwills and twirling weather vanes are couched next to reckless intrusive thoughts and dubious barroom dialogue. Amidst their abstract, artfully vague lyrics are feelings of restlessness, insecurity, joy and connection—all melting into one strange witching-hour fever dream. “As we were writing we noticed a sort of unconscious throughline of different activities and behaviors that occur at night,” Shane says. “Night is when more destructive or indulgent behavior seems to come out–the behavior that sometimes you’re not proud of.”
The album opens with the eerie hypnosis of “Night Song,” which resembles the out-of-body experience of a long drive across an unfamiliar highway. Then the contorted guitar fuzz of “Silver Moon” rings out, ripping this sense of tranquility to shreds with both finesse and brute force. But the climax of their punishingly heavy guitar work actually arrives in the middle of “Fall Apart,” a touching pop song. “Blow up the store and hide from your family / Live out the details of your fantasy / I want to do the things that make me fall apart,” Shane sings sweetly about the magnetic pull of self-sabotage after a barrage of volatile guitar fireworks.
Night Songs also finds the Sullivan brothers at their most vocally vulnerable, as more melodic parts required more confident performances. The warm, crackling “Drive All Night” was the first time Shane consciously wrote catchier vocal melodies, and the bucolic “Mason Dixon” showcases his knack for palpable tenderness, while tracks like the gentle, folky “777” challenged Nick to put his voice front and center—a deviation from the haze-covered, half-sung murmurs of their early material. Another recurring, pacifying voice on Night Songs comes from Shep Treasure’s Sabrina Nichols, who lent a charming beauty to songs like “Mason Dixon” and the noise-pop tear-jerker “Softer Skin.”
The more Joyer traveled to new places, the more they connected with like-minded artists, and consequently, Night Songs became their most collaborative record to date—also featuring appearances from Teethe’s Boone Patrello (guitar and piano on “777”) and Kitchen’s James Keegan (synth on “Night Song”). Another friend recorded and mastered the album, Big Nice Studio’s Bradford Krieger (Horse Jumper of Love, Squirrel Flower), who they describe as a magician and worked on their two previous full-lengths, while Drop of Sun Studios’ Alex Farrar (Wednesday, Indigo De Souza) mixed the LP and was a new addition to Joyer’s sonic universe, bringing a newfound polish. The writing and recording process for Night Songs was by far the longest period they’ve spent working on a Joyer record, and its dynamic songwriting and dense textures—beaming, blinking and evaporating like the headlights of distant traffic—bear this out.
Other evidence of their life-affirming travels surfaces on songs like the sparkling, cheerful “Star,” which recounts an Ohio camping trip with tourmates Kitchen that was invaded by mayflies, and “Mason Dixon,” which was written after an extensive tour of Canada and the American South and grapples with the emotional whiplash of making new friends while landscapes rapidly shift around you. “Drive All Night” also describes the rejuvenating properties of nighttime and sprawling, solo road trips, with Shane cooing atop scuffed guitars, “Staying up late at night is when I feel my most light / I will drive, drive all night.”
Night Songs is a time capsule of two young lives pulled in many directions and shrouded under the cover of darkness. It’s an invitation to savor new experiences and the people around you and suck in the brisk nighttime air—you never know what treasures and temptations are lurking in its midst.
