Forget the Mantra

Forget the Mantra
Studio album by Nightlands
Released November 9, 2010 (2010-11-09)[1]
Recorded 2010
Genre rock, electronic, indie rock, dream pop, noise pop[2]
Label Secretly Canadian
Producer Dave Hartley
Nightlands chronology
Forget the Mantra
(2010)		 Oak Island
(2013)

Forget the Mantra is the debut album by Nightlands, the solo project by The War on Drugs member Dave Hartley. Released on November 9, 2010 on Secretly Canadian,[1] it was largely well received by critics.[3] Wrote Laura Studarus of Under the Radar, the album "is a dizzying sound quilt, stitched together from pieces of found sounds, aging cassettes, Gregorian chants, multi-layered chouses, Afro-rhythm sections, handclaps, and (most certainly) a few things that go bump in the night."[4]

Production and release

Philadelphia-based musician and multi-instrumentalist Dave Hartley based the album on musical ideas inspired by dreams, and according to Secretly Canadian, "the album deals with themes of anxiety, fear and the limits of concentration." The songs were first recorded to tape on a Tascam 388 over a number of months, with friends coming in for some additional tracking.[5] It was released as a digital download[2] and as a vinyl LP in the United States on November 9, 2010.[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Under the Radar[4]
Pitchfork[3]

Pitchfork gave the album a largely positive review and 7/10, writing that "in keeping with the dream concept, Forget the Mantra turns stranger and more inscrutable the deeper you venture into it. The album's back half is given over to more amorphous, lengthier pieces that interlace found spoken-word recordings with wordless harmonies, hypnotic folkie finger-picking, and manipulated string and synth textures."[3]

Wrote Laura Studarus of Under the Radar, the album "is a dizzying sound quilt, stitched together from pieces of found sounds, aging cassettes, Gregorian chants, multi-layered chouses, Afro-rhythm sections, handclaps, and (most certainly) a few things that go bump in the night." She gave the album 7/10, praising its "spirit of fearless experimentation."[4]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Dave Hartley. 

No. Title Length
1. "Forget the Mantra"   4:17
2. "300 Clouds"   3:43
3. "Suzerain (A Letter to the Judge)"    
4. "God What Have I"   3:49
5. "Til I Die"   3:29
6. "Glass Vacuum"   4:37
7. "A Walk In Cheong, 1969"   3:15
8. "WFMS, 1993"   4:08
9. "Longways, Homebound, 2010"   5:41
10. "Slowtrain"   5:35
11. "Fly, Neanderthal"   0:44

Personnel

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Nightlands – Forget The Mantra". Discogs. Retrieved 2015-05-12.
  2. 1 2 "Forget the Mantra". Allmusic. November 9, 2010. Retrieved 2014-12-30.
  3. 1 2 3 Berman, Stuart (November 16, 2010). "Forget the Mantra Review". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2015-05-12.
  4. 1 2 3 Studarus, Laura. "Forget the Mantra". Under the Radar. Retrieved 2015-05-12.
  5. ↑ "Forget the Mantra". Secretly Canadian. Retrieved 2015-05-12.

External links

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