Released on July 30th, 2020, Night Owl is back with his third full length album, What Good News Will This Morning Bring? Please read along with us as we dissect our thoughts of the record, as well as familiarize ourselves with the background of the artist.

Rob Mohan, also known as Night Owl, has been performing across different genres for well over a decade. His latest project, Night Owl was first developed while living in San Francisco as a means to release a collection of lo-fi acoustic songs. With little knowledge of where to start, he self-recorded his first full-length album in his apartment in Noe Valley, a sleepy neighborhood that sits right above the vibrant mission district in San Francisco. While he’s currently based in Cincinnati, he continues to play under the Night Owl moniker. Although it was a bit of a reset to leave San Francisco for the Cincinnati scene, he continues to fill rooms with open-tunings and bellowing sounds of his Epiphone Masterbilt

Night Owl’s latest release is a reflection of our current times. It’s an exploration of isolation and the obvious realization that our time on this earth is fleeting. With that, the title itself looks onward towards the hope of a better future. It is the darkness before the dawn that keeps us waiting. With each song comes the textures of the spaces they were recorded in. It was important that the rooms were just as much an instrument that contributed to the overall composition of a song. The thin reverb of an empty room, the sounds of birds singing in the rain, all of it combines into a beautiful reflection of isolation.

Coming in at 11 total tracks at a runtime of 36 minutes, What Good News Will This Morning Bring? Immediately jumped out to us as an emotional, thoughtful, and extremely current piece of art. Our initial impressions on the album opener, “Vultures of the Evergreen” were that this was going to be the type of record that requires nothing but 100% focus on the soundscapes and lyricism being presented. There’s an inherent maturity that flows from start to finish on the album, exploring different themes within the lyrics that take a look at our new everyday lives.

We get the feeling that Night Owl has most likely spent a majority of his quarantine in bouts of self-isolation. We also have to assume that all amounts of excess energy went into creating this album. You can so clearly tell that the lyrics are so personal and give off a very warm feeling that invites you to pay closer attention to what’s really happening. So much music these days goes in one ear and out the other, but if you’re going to take the time and sit with this album, we highly encourage you and recommend to give it full focus. The instrumentation, mainly in the form of acoustic guitar is masterful and impressive beyond our wildest dreams. As amateur musicians ourselves, you can’t help but be envious hearing him so effortlessly finger pick.

Lastly, we couldn’t get through the review without mentioning how smooth and inviting the vocals are throughout the record. The highlights for us specifically were the deliveries on “Oblivion”, “Premonition”, and “Hatteras”. That’s not to say the rest of the album’s vocals fell flat, but we truly felt a connection after listening to these three tracks. With that being said, we seriously hope you take the time to listen, because you won’t regret it! Take our advice and give it focus, because it’s what it deserves.

For all things Night Owl, to listen to What Good News Will This Morning Bring?, and to keep up with all future releases and information, please check out the following links below.

Listen to What Good News Will This Morning Bring?

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