Overview

Night Drive is the third studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by Chromatics

Chromatics

Chromatics are a band from Portland, Oregon, whose current lineup features singer Ruth Radelet, guitarist Adam Miller, drummer Nat Walker, and producer/multi-instrumentalist Johnny Jewel. The band originally featured a trademark sound indebted to punk and lo-fi and described as "noisy" and "chaotic"...

, released in 2007 on the Italians Do It Better record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

. The label reissued an analogue remaster

Remaster

Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...

 of the album as a "Deluxe Edition" in 2010, on both CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 and double LP

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 formats. A limited print run of the double LP was pressed on colored vinyl: blue for Sides A and B, and red for Sides C and D. The "Deluxe Edition" restores five tracks that had originally constituted Side D of the album, but had been scrapped before the original 2007 release date due to technical problems and time constraints.

With this album, the Chromatics made a drastic departure from their previously punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 sound, as they pursued a new direction reminiscent of Italo Disco

Italo disco

Italo disco encompasses much of the dance music output in Europe during the 1980s. It is one of the world's first forms of mostly electronic dance music and evolved during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and other parts of Europe...

. It is the first full-length Chromatics album to feature singer Ruth Badelet and producer and multi-instrumentalist

Multi-instrumentalist

A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...

 Johnny Jewel

Glass Candy

Glass Candy is an American indie electronic band from Portland, Oregon that formed in 1996. The band consists of vocalist Ida No and guitarist/synthesist/general producer Johnny Jewel. While the band's early work blends elements of no wave and glam rock, their later work incorporates Italo disco...

. Only guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 Adam Miller had been featured on the band's previous LPs.

Musical Content

The album's title may be a reference to a 1985 single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 ("Night Drive"/"Time Space Transmat") by Detroit techno

Detroit techno

Detroit techno is an early style of electronic music beginning in the 1980s. Detroit, Michigan has been cited as the birthplace of techno music. Prominent Detroit Techno artists include Juan Atkins, Derrick May, and Kevin Saunderson...

 pioneer Juan Atkins

Juan Atkins

Juan Atkins is an American musician. He is widely credited as the originator of techno music, specifically Detroit techno along with Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson...

.

Opening track "The Telephone Call" contains samples

Sampling (music)

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

 from "Lady Operator" by Mirage and from the Chromatics' own tracks "The Killing Spree" and "Let's Make This A Moment To Remember." It sketches out a plot involving a female protagonist

Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...

 who, after spending an evening at a nightclub

Nightclub

A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

, is about to drive home to meet her boyfriend. It ends with a sample of a car driving off, and then segue

Segue

A segue is a smooth transition from one topic or section to the next.-In music:In music, segue is a direction to the performer. It means continue without a pause. It comes from the Italian "it follows". The term attacca is also used in classical music.For written music it implies a transition...

s into the title track. Accordingly, these opening two tracks, along with album closer "Accelerator," suggest that the album may be a concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

 about a late night drive.

The words of "I Want Your Love" contain a reference to the song "96 Tears

96 Tears

"96 Tears" is a popular song recorded by ? in 1966. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and on the RPM 100 in Canada and is ranked #210 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.-History:...

" by ? & The Mysterians

"Running Up that Hill

Running Up That Hill

12" Maxi single -Charts:-Placebo version:Alternative rock band Placebo covered "Running Up that Hill", releasing it originally on the bonus disc of their 2003 album Sleeping with Ghosts, then featuring it on Covers and the US version of Meds in 2007. Placebo's take on the song is more downbeat than...

" is a cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of the first track from Kate Bush

Kate Bush

Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...

's 1985 album, Hounds of Love

Hounds of Love

Hounds of Love is a 1985 album by the British singer Kate Bush. It was Bush's fifth studio album, and her second no. 1. It has since been certified Double Platinum in the UK...

.

The guitar solo

Guitar solo

In popular music, a guitar solo is a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. Guitar solos, which often contain varying degrees of improvisation, are used in many styles of popular music such as blues, jazz, rock and metal styles such...

 in "Healer" contains a musical quotation

Musical quotation

Musical quotation is the practice of directly quoting another work in a new composition. The quotation may be from the same composer's work , or from a different composer's work ....

 from Joy Division

Joy Division

Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis , Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris .Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences...

's "Shadowplay

Shadowplay (song)

"Shadowplay" is a song by the band Joy Division. It appeared on the 1979 album Unknown Pleasures. The song was covered by the Killers in 2007 and Carpathian in 2010.-Lyrics:...

," from its 1979 album, Unknown Pleasures

Unknown Pleasures

Unknown Pleasures is the debut album by the English post-punk band Joy Division, released in 1979 through Factory Records. Martin Hannett produced the record at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, England. The album sold poorly upon release, but due to the subsequent success of Joy Division with the...

.

Album closer "Accelerator" contains an interpolation

Interpolation (music)

Interpolation in music refers to an abrupt change in musical elements from the main theme.-In classical music:In music and musical composition, especially 20th century and later, interpolation is an abrupt change of elements, with continuation of the first idea...

 of chords

Chord (music)

A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

 from the album's title track.

Track listing

Personnel

Johnny Jewel: Programs

Programming (music)

Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices, often sequencers or computer programs, to generate music. Programming is used in nearly all forms of electronic music and in most hip hop music since the 1990s. It is also frequently used in modern pop and rock...

Adam Miller: Guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

Ruth Radelet: Vocals

Nat Walker: "Nitty"

Recorded at Suite 304 during Summer 2007 for Italians Do It Better.

Reception

Reception was generally positive. In a review for Allmusic, K. Ross Hoffman marveled at how "the album evokes widescreen opulence with a sonic palette that extends beyond the bedrock of synths, guitars, and drum machines to include touches of organ, strings, flutes, and so on, but it's always used sparingly, rarely outstepping the group's meticulously minimal, carefully controlled arrangements". Andrew Graham, writing for the Boston Phoenix, praised the 2010 remastered and expanded version of the album, calling "Circled Sun" a "newly unearthed gem" and stating that "In less capable hands, Night Drive's parts might blur together into a soporific whole, but Chromatics don't let the production dominate". A negative review by Nina Phillips in Stylus Magazine

Stylus Magazine

Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....

called the album "poorly produced," criticized "Tomorrow Is So Far Away" for its repetitive structure, and cited "Tick Of The Clock" as a "conceptual failure".