Club Night : Joy Coming Down
Oakland indie-rock band Club Night—the latest in a long line of bands with unmarketable names—took a seemingly inauspicious six years to dish up the successor to 2019’s What Life. But as they return with their second record, the irresistibly fresh Joy Coming Down, via Tiny Engines, it won’t take more than a few seconds after the needle hits the vinyl before listeners realize it was well worth the wait.
Joy Coming Down is an expertly crafted piece of work, as if Club Night—comprising guitarist Ian Tatum, bassist Devin Trainer, singer Josh Bertram and keyboardist/drummer Nick Cowman—can already see themselves playing it in full if not this year then on tours 10, 20 and 30 years from now. Leadoff track “Expo” is a gleefully rambunctious homecoming for the band; it starts with a brief electronic soundscape, followed by a slow, punctuated waltz. Once the listener starts getting accustomed to the direction Club Night have decided to take, they quickly veer left and throw themselves down a staircase rhythmically. Built to Spill comparisons are replaced, with “At the Drive-In” written over the eraser marks—indeed, the band almost dares one to take a stab at a “RIYL,” only so they can defy it.
Sure, Coming Down has all the disjointed appeal of Modest Mouse at their peak, but equally appealing to those well versed in the emo canon. “Lake” finds Club Night mastering off-kilter rhythms goosed by one-note, syncopated guitar lines. The band stretches out a bit on “Palace,” with Tatum’s vocals echoing as Cowman alternates between percussion and keys.
“Dream,” the fourth song on the album, lives up to its name, slowly lugging the listener along a Sydney Pollock landscape of spurting guitars and breezy passages. The song’s airy midsection contains a mysterious recording of someone murmuring about taking mushrooms for the first time. “Rot” seems to be about recovery—one of multiple lyrical themes on the record. But, as is the case with just about every great indie rock record, you’ll need to read the lyrics to discern what’s on Bertram’s brain, as he more often uses his chirpy vocals to serve as an additional instrument.
The fifth track, “Judah,” is perfectly sequenced in the heart of the record, as it captures its essence: Lugubrious, cascading Joy Coming Down the side of a mountain like an April waterfall. “When an ancient wall comes crumbling down/ There is joy waiting/ Somewhere underground,” Bertram sings on the track. His lyrical efforts are even more laudable on the ensuing song “Station,” during which he evokes images of olive trees, immovable stones and “the prettiest imagery/ that you had never seen before.”
Following the best breakdown on the album, Club Night take a brief respite with the instrumental “Dream II”—again, perfectly placed for a full-bodied record—before they dive into the final track, “Rabbit.” Fittingly, the denouement is a little longer and slower burning than most of the other songs presented on Joy Coming Down, making one realize that the title of the record refers on the one hand to a celebratory outpouring but, on the other hand, also connotes its conclusion. It’s all good, as the saying goes: It’s a pleasure to have Club Night not just back in the fold but in top form.
Label: Tiny Engines
Year: 2025
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Club Night : Joy Coming Down
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