When you return home after travelling long distances, far and away through various time-zones, clouds, sunsets, you’re neither here nor there. You are probably somewhere in between the two trying to keep your mind and your body in the same place.
There are not many songs that will transport you to another place/era/decade/timeline/universe (delete where applicable) as well as ‘Sunset’ by The Midnight can.
Lovingly captured de- ja -vu guitars, driving but steadily paced basslines, euphoric chants and pristine saxophone solos all blend to form the perfect synthwave power ballad.
The song creates a cinematic story within its narrative. You imagine the character at the centre of the story; a handsome and impassive renegade, lighting a cigarette, not smoking it, just watching it burn, leaning against the bonnet of a red sports car before abandoning the cigarette to the dirt, returning to his journey, his mission, his quest. A single figure in a time lapse sequence turning and quitting the scene. The vocals lean in, whisper a word, or a few, it doesn’t seem like a sentence but it will sting your mind. A tragic beauty that this was all supposed to be romantic, it’s bitter, sweet, nostalgic and fresh.
Sounding like the soundtrack to a film that has never been made, but one that you wish could be made. The song ends. You’re in a daze, you want to revisit its rich scenery. Humming along to the melody it’s like being back with an old friend who says, ‘hey you, I wondered what had happened to you…’ you answer, Yes, me too. Tracing your steps to how it all started. Playing the song once more.
If you find the beginning of it you will never be found again.
