On Night Fiction, Cian Nugent creates the exact kind of long-flowing, pastoral melodies one would think of when picturing the green Irish countryside. Be they fast and rolling or slowly minimalist, the achingly beautiful sounds display a bucolic quality that lets the listener absorb every detail of the deep audio reflections.
Bringing to mind a latter day Nick Drake on “Nightlife” and “Shadows,” Nugent displays an emotional appeal to those who long for easier times in the not-so-distant past. As with all of the songs on the record, there is a nostalgia factor that is clearly heard but not dominating the relevance of today.
On faster tracks, Nugent displays his penchant for American rock and folk. When listening to his at times jerky, maniacal guitar picking; jam bands from The Grateful Dead to Phish come to mind. These displays of classic American solos are used in conjunction to the “steady as she goes” flow that Nugent has such command of.
The instances of blues, folk and rock present here often give off a flavor of the ’80s when soulful Irish bands such as The Hothouse Flowers, The Waterboys and later, The Cranberries were on a mainstream radar. The bits of retro present in Cian Nugent’s Night Fiction will recall the best moments of those and other bands, all while sounding like they belong to now.
Top Tracks: Things Don’t Change That Fast, Nightlife
Rating: 8.7/10
Cian Nugent – Night Fiction / 7 Tracks/Woodsist Records/2016