Highly recommended.

Sullivan’s breezy indie-rock ditties are reminiscent of Jonathan Richman. You’ll know Justin Sullivan better as a drummer - he’s best known for being a tub-thumper for Kevin Morby’s various endeavours and also formed the fuzz punk outfit Flat Worms, with Tim Hellman of Oh Sees and Will Ivy. In The Break, the debut LP from his Night Shop project, demonstrates that Morby isn’t the only good songwriter in his immediate circle.

Night Shop is the songwriting project of Justin Sullivan. Sullivan has worked as a touring drummer for the past twenty years with a half dozen DIY punk bands, including Ringers and an early incarnation of Worriers. In 2009, he joined The Babies alongside Kevin Morby and Cassie Ramone. When the band went on hiatus in 2013, Sullivan moved to Los Angeles with Morby and continued working with him as a staple of the live band and playing on all of Morby’s studio albums. In the meantime, Sullivan also formed the fuzz punk outfit Flat Worms, with Tim Hellman of Oh Sees and Will Ivy. But in the middle of a tour in August of 2016, Sullivan realized the rigors of the road had grown to be too much. He made the decision to take a full calendar year away from touring and focus, for the first time, on writing his own music.

Like most of Sullivan’s projects, the album is a family affair. His former touring and recording partner in the Kevin Morby band, Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) plays bass on several of the songs and sings backup vocals on a few as well. Flat Worms cohort Will Ivy plays lead guitar on some, while Mare labelmate and soon-to-be touring partner Anna St. Louis sings backup on two songs. The album was engineered by Jarvis Taveniere of Woods and mixed by Drew Fischer who previously worked with Sullivan on Morby’s first two records and The Babies second album Our House On The Hill.