Excerpt: “Sullivan (a.k.a. Slow Dancing Society) uses soft layers of washed-out synth tones and silky, echoing guitar strums to create lush and soothing ambient soundscapes. Depth and texture are added with backward tones, found sounds and hushed bells (and even the occasional whispered vocal) that float gently through the incandescent atmosphere. Other than allowing the artist to conjure up seven titles or to provide the listener with opportunities to shift gears through the various levels of consciousness and hypnotic states the music induces, there is little need for separate tracks, as the vapor trails of one lead into the calming ripples of another. Like the glow of sunlight filtered through the slowly undulating waves of blue crystalline water, Under The Sodium Lights is less an auditory adventure and more a rich and imaginative musical daydream.”

Delusions of Adequacy

Excerpt: “On his latest album, Under the Sodium Lights, Slow Dancing Society (aka Drew Sullivan) comes through nicely once again with his signature mix of processed guitar washes and slow, melancholic melodies. The tracks melt together in your head, but if it’s due to a sameness of sound, then I have to say it’s a pleasing sameness. What works best here is that Sullivan’s straightforward playing has a real crispness to it, a strength and clarity that doesn’t just ease the playing over his reverent, almost church-organ-esque washes–it makes it pop. I also love the sound of Sullivan’s laid-back, country-bred slide guitar work and the shot of unexpected spice it brings to the sound. There’s always a sense of fading sadness to Slow Dancing Society, but it’s a sadness on the verge of getting over whatever it was that set you off all melancholy and brooding in the first place. There’s a sigh of hope under it all. It feels at times like the soundtrack to something we’ve all been through. It’s sitting, thinking, sighing and then deciding to just get on with it, caught in a very enjoyable listen.”

Hypnagogue

Excerpt: “Last is an artist I’ve come to know recently but like a lot, Slow Dancing Society. His music has that languid, post rock ambient sound I’ve really started to appreciate of late. Very simple, yet very evocative and emotional. The new album, Under The Sodium Lights, is perhaps the best yet. Well done and highly recommended.”

Secret Music

Excerpt: “A beautiful ambient show gaze album from the master of Ambient Drew Sullivan. Following up from the well received Priest Lake Circa ‘88,… This is Drew’s best work in my opinion. He takes his time in building mesmerizing crescendos to great effect. The layers of angelic synths and guitar riffs drowned in reverb are hypnotizing to say the least.”

A Floating World