Iron Night

Guitar virtuoso, songwriter exemplar, former Songs: Ohia collaborator and now Chicago everyman, Dan Sullivan (aka Nad Navillus), is back with his most accomplished work to date, "Iron Night". But this time the concept of Nad Navillus has been expanded. For starters, Nad Navillus has blossomed into a full band accompanied by various instrumentalists, including a full-blown string section. Sure, Sullivan still writes all the songs and leads the charge with his incredible lead guitar work and vocals. But this isn't your albino brother's indie-rock label's singer-songwriter anymore. There are collaborators in Dan's midst -- a team Nad Navillus, so to speak. And they are, dare we say it, making sure the rock gets out.
Recorded at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio in Chicago in the blazing summer heat with Rob Bochnik and Greg Norman at the helm, "Iron Night" is the Nad Navillus full-length avant rock record we've all been waiting for. Lyrically flirting with both the spiritual and the macabre, "Iron Night" encompasses a large range of themes and moods but never fails to project a unified tone. It is not quite a concept record, but it feels like one. And, musically, "Iron Night" reads like a "what if..." manifesto found in the used bin of some second-hand book store catering to music-types...what if Low had teeth or what if Gastr del Sol committed itself more steadfastly to the song form or what if the members of Fairport Convention regained their youth and plugged in for one last hurrah on the rooftop of some midwestern pizza parlor. A band can rest its laurels on being impeccably referential, or it can go about embodying a vastly superior parallel universe. "Iron Night" demonstrates that Nad Navillus does the latter.