THE MIDNIGHT レコード& CD

Review: The Midnight managed to sell out their entire 2022 US tour, which tells you something about their reputation stateside. It's not hard to hear why their work resonates so strongly on the westside of the Atlantic, either, with the band conjuring up a strange and unarguably heady brew that at once makes us feel like we've stepped through the mirror into the beachside concert scene from The Lost Boys, climbed into an open top Cadillac and hit a highway of wide open vistas, and stumbled upon a glam rock concert.
A blend of Americana, synth pop, and rock, it's high impact stuff that feels born for big stages, and cannot help but convey a sense of powerful emotion - as though the Drive soundtrack had merged with Slippery When Wet for a turbo-charged journey into a sound that could almost invoke a time gone by, but upon closer inspection, seems to belong neither here nor there, but instead in its own place.

Review: The Midnight's latest Heroes is a stark display of the musical evolution of the New York duo. A band that started as a synth heavy proposition, extensive touring across the globe (including a headline at London's Brixton Academy) and the desire not to repeat themselves in creative terms has led to the bigger vision and wider appeal of what their label calls "fully-realised, arena-worthy songs".
Heroes is the final part in a trilogy of albums that started with 2018's Kids, followed in 2020 by Monsters. "For me, Kids is self-knowledge, Monsters is self-love, and then Heroes is empathy," said singer Tyler Lyle. "I got into depth psychology and this idea of aetiology, the way a human forms. The world doesn't get better but we do. We grow into ourselves. We grow into our voice."
Still, Heroes remains definitely more a case of evolution than revolution - there's still more than a hint of the gorgeous synth sounds in evidence, but with a lyrical maturity and smartness that gives even its most pop moments an unexpected twist.

Review: The Midnight's latest Heroes is a stark display of the musical evolution of the New York duo. A band that started as a synth heavy proposition, extensive touring across the globe (including a headline at London's Brixton Academy) and the desire not to repeat themselves in creative terms has led to the bigger vision and wider appeal of what their label calls "fully-realised, arena-worthy songs".
Heroes is the final part in a trilogy of albums that started with 2018's Kids, followed in 2020 by Monsters. "For me, Kids is self-knowledge, Monsters is self-love, and then Heroes is empathy," said singer Tyler Lyle. "I got into depth psychology and this idea of aetiology, the way a human forms. The world doesn't get better but we do. We grow into ourselves. We grow into our voice."
Still, Heroes remains definitely more a case of evolution than revolution - there's still more than a hint of the gorgeous synth sounds in evidence, but with a lyrical maturity and smartness that gives even its most pop moments an unexpected twist.