
Acrylics can’t possibly be making any kind of statement with “Nightwatch,” the first single off their upcoming debut LP, Lives and Treasure. But with the multitudes of flash-in-the-pan indie that has come out the past few years, making a significant splash isn’t about being bold or innovative, you just need to write a good track.
“Nightwatch” is a good track. It’s easy to imagine this as a Fleetwood Mac tune given that singer, Molly Shea, is a female and the track screams 70’s soft rock; however, the similarities end there. Unfortunately, female singers have always been limited to ill-conceived and ambiguous comparisons due to a smaller influential pool to draw from. Not every female folk singer sounds like Janis Joplin, just like not every male indie rocker sounds like Lou Reed — even if they try to.
Regardless, “Nightwatch” is a late-night drive, a haunting slow jam that never picks up because it never has to. The line, “I believe in infinity” falls as flat as the chorus it makes up, but the rest of the song coasts along toward its shimmering fade out.