Night Flight - Songs From Echo Zoo (2023) Hi Res

Night Flight cite influences that include The Band, Big Star, Neil Young and Elliot Smith, yet they don’t sound much like any of them. The four tracks on their ‘Songs From Echo Zoo’ suggest that they have also absorbed quite a lot of classic indie music too. The London four-piece demonstrate that influences can inspire new and innovative ideas, rather than just being a mere template for their sound. These four tracks are enough to suggest that Night Flight may be well worth keeping an eye on.

The EP gathers together three previous singles and adds a new track. ‘Dreaming’ has a jangly indie feel to it. ‘Canada’ is a more harmonious affair which finds the band expanding and enhancing its sound. The third of the singles ‘Something Going On’ continues this process with dreamy soundscapes layered on to an irregular, almost improvised sounding percussive backdrop. The fourth track ‘Sleeping in California’ takes the band up a further notch. The most developed and assured of the four tracks, its gentle melodic opening gives way to mellow a dreamy guitar solo that in turn metamorphosises into a wilder sound that shoots off in unpredictable directions like a wayward firework.

Night Flight show on this EP that they can both cultivate a distinctive sound and simultaneously express themselves through a diverse range of songs and arrangements resulting in an impressive insight into a band that will be new to many.