press > The Courier Mail, Brisbane 05-08-2006

‘The Tonights’
THE TONIGHTS (Sun & Air)

Another immaculately produced Australian recording comes from Brisbane band The Tonights and their self-titled debut album (Sun and Air/MGM Distribution).
It’s a tight unit with singer-songwriter Eva Fritz, guitarist brother Henry and Eva’s husband, drummer Christian Paul Sargeant. 
What’s so striking about The Tonights is that they know how to construct an album of varied colours rather than saying the same thing a dozen times over, using brass, congas, lapsteel or whatever else can do the job.
Their songs range from haunting piano ballads (see Glass Apple) to widescreen, slow-mo rock (Strangers at a Disco, Immobilized) and massive instrumentals (see the Roxy Music-meets-Chemical Brothers anthem Homunculus).
Big Sky features double bass and tasty trumpet around its slinky rhythms, Drop the Ball builds around a lonely harmonica before erupting into a soul-fired rave-up, while Bugs is a mysterious collision between a bluesy organ figure and emotive slide guitar.
Fritz has a warm, inviting voice and a stack of fine tunes, and the attention to detail, from Eva’s superb cover art to Sargeant’s sure production, delivers an album that deserves to spread their music to an international audience.

Noel Mengel

[The Courier Mail, Brisbane 05-08-2006]