''Before Nightfall'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Robert Francis, released on October 9, 2009, by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. It was released in 2009 with " Junebug" as

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

, followed by "Keep On Running". Both were also released as

video clips A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of mu ...

. ''Before Nightfall'' is Francis' first album on a major label. In an interview with Redefine magazine, Francis said that darkness was a major theme on the album.

Critical reception

Andrew Leahey of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

summarized it as a "grounded, no-frills album, sometimes sweeping in scope." ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' Marc Hawthorne found producer Sardy's presence intruding, writing, "he and ardyhave given his music a sheen that adds too much distance between performer and listener." Michael Hann at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' felt the album's contents artificial, commenting, "It's a pleasant haze of guitars, bass and drums, sliding by like

midwestern The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

plains viewed from a car window ..but there's little of the sense of sincere connection that lifts the very best American

heartland rock Heartland rock is a genre of rock music characterized by a straightforward, often roots musical style, often with a focus on blue-collar workers, and a conviction that rock music has a social or communal purpose beyond just entertainment. The g ...

out of its homeland and makes it universal."

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 2009 albums Albums produced by Dave Sardy