Album Review
The Midnight: Days of Thunder
by
Andrea Sabiu
“Top class vocal and lyrics combined with a satisfying and genuine-‐as-‐can-‐be sound that take you on a trip down nostalgia lane.”
Sometimes melding together different music styles brings to life a very unique sound, and that’s the case of the Los Angeles based duo formed by Tyler Lyle and iAmData,
also known as “The Midnight”.
Their debut album “Days of Thunder” is a fusion experiment of contemporary electronic dance music with a touch of the 80’s retro styled synthesizers, a work of indubitable passion and cure for detail. But without further ado, let me tell you my impressions on this first glimpse of what “The Midnight” has in it’s sleeve…
Right from the first track, I immediately felt in a modern styled ambient, very “M83ish”; The sound of the 80’s, the synths, the pads, the feeling that Synthwave/Synthpop/Retrowave or however you want to call it generally brings up to it’s listeners, is more of a side dish, leaving space to a more prominent dream wave and progressive house setup; This is highly noticeable in the first three tracks.
The beat is strong and deep, very direct, while the harmony provides a nice spotlight for the voice track. A little side note here: vocals and lyrics don’t stand out too much, resulting flat and repetitive at times, but they generally fit well with the music.
The second part, starting from track four *Days of Thunder* , and ending with my personal favorite *Los Angeles*, brings back a more retro styled, almost outrun, musical setup. A couple of well placed synth, guitar and saxophone solos really hit that 80’s movie cliché that always feels good to get.
There is still a very persistent EDM touch, that makes the whole thing an interesting new experience to listen to.
Looking at the whole album, it certainly feels like a solid piece of work, my only concern is that every song may be perceived as “stretched”, with an average six minutes apiece, it could be easy to get lost in the somewhat repetitive EDM mood, forgetting about the music and reducing it to a mere background setting.
Wrapping it up, “Days of Thunder” is a fresh release, worthy to be played through at least a couple of times, maybe on a slow car ride towards the sunset, enjoying the soundtrack of a movie that only you can see and hear.
Track List
1. The Years (prologue)
2. Gloria
3. WeMoveForward
4. Days of Thunder
5. Kick Drums & Red Wine
6. Los Angeles
Listen Here:
Check out “The Midnight” at: https://themidnight.bandcamp.com/album/days-of-thunder or leave them a comment @TheMidnightLA
