Nightbus – Average Boy


They call it late-night music. I call it perfect driving music.

Released: 2024

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Lots of driving this week meant lots of time to listen to new music. One of the artists that jumped out at me was Nightbus. I didn’t know anything about them, all I had was the 4 songs they’ve released to date in the queue.

After the last of them was done, I played them again. And again. My music app tells me I listened to those songs 5 times each this week, with a couple bonus plays for Way Past Three and Average Boy.

That’s the way to do it:

They call it ‘late night music’, and that’s good enough. Average Boy sure brings The XX to mind, but the band has more going on than that. The coverage in NME and The Guardian compare them to The XX, New Order and Joy Division, but to me those bands are used so frequently as comps for new music that it’s not very useful. Just hit play:

Yesterday they put out a short documentary made leading up to and during a show in Edinburgh which has some clips of a couple of unreleased songs, and some frank discussion of how hard it is for a band just starting out, and the concept of ‘veggie haggis tacos’ which is difficult to conceive. Check it out:

Here’s hoping there’s a full-length on the way in 2024.