The Midnight will Outlast Synthwave mania. Here's why!

If you’ve even only slightly dipped your toes into the 80s inspired retro-futuristic world of synthwave and retrowave, you’ll have definitely come across The Midnight. The project’s core duo of singer-songwriter Tyler Lyle and producer Tim McEwan have been gaining a huge amount of momentum in recent years. Their infectiously catchy songs are soaked in the sounds and textures of everything 80s, mixing everything from classic pop sensibilities to the squealing guitars of the era’s rock bands like Whitesnake and Def Leppard. It’s a combination that definitely seems to work. Despite only recently being a force on the live circuit, they managed to sell out their 100th show ever at The Roundhouse in London!

Perhaps more importantly though, the rise of The Midnight and other synthwave artists such as Carpenter Brut, FM-84 and Timecop1983 has spurred others on to make retro-style projects. Klayton (the man behind electronic rock project Celldweller and industrial metal project Circle of Dust) has ventured into it with Scandroid, a project he originally did as a duo with Varien but then decided to make a solo project going forward. Klayton’s labelmate Blue Stahli also has his own synthwave outlet. The Scottish shredder McRocklin dived into it with the McRocklin & Hutch project. TesseracT frontman Dan Tompkins started the project Zeta with his friends Paul Ortiz (who makes progressive metal music under the alias Chimp Spanner) and Katie Jackson. It seems like the world is going crazy for synthwave! Like all trends, however, Synthwave mania isn’t going to last. At some point, the copycat projects will fade out. When that happens, I genuinely believe that The Midnight will be one of the ones that outlast the synthwave boom and are able to stand proudly on their own in the wider world of music. Why do I think this? Well, it all comes down to the biggest thing of all about music. The actual songs themselves.

The Midnight may have a very solid retro aesthetic behind them that people really dig, but the real reason why people have latched onto them is that they write amazing songs. Tyler Lyle and Tim McEwan actually first met each other when they were paired up to do a songwriting session together and you can definitely tell. Even earlier songs like Gloria and Days of Thunder have the kind of timeless quality about them that makes them great pop songs. They’re absolutely laden with vocal and instrumental hooks, have huge choruses that are easy to sing along to and, thanks to Tim McEwan’s seasoned production chops (just look up the huge amount of records he’s been involved in over the years!), they’re impeccably produced and chock-full of ear candy. The perfectly wobbly synthesizers, layers of 80s and 90s sounding drums and flickers and glitches of samples create an entire sonic universe that’s beautiful and cinematic in its scope. How could you not fail to be drawn in by something as powerful sounding as a great pop song supported by widescreen levels of production?

It’s surprising how well Tyler Lyle and Tim McEwan work as a songwriting duo, considering how different their upbringing and musical references are. Lyle hails from Carrolton, Georgia, a community right in the middle of America’s Bible Belt that’s so conservative that it has banned productions of The Rocky Horror Picture Show as recently as a few years ago, and cut his teeth in the country scene writing songs both for himself and for other artists. McEwan was born in Denmark to a Danish mother and a Scottish father and cut his teeth as a producer working on a huge amount of records including releases by British boybands The Wanted and Jedward (yes, really! Jedward!). What both of them did have in common was an appreciation for the pop music of days gone by as well as the retro stylings of the movie Drive. These common threads are what came together in that first writing session the pair had to make up what we now know as The Midnight. It’s something that’s clearly working really well as the songwriting duo are cranking out fantastic song after fantastic song, all dripping in nostalgia for a time that no longer exists.

That’s not even getting into one of the most defining presences of The Midnight’s output: The sexy saxophone. Even though the band has never officially had a sax player, right from the start the instrument has been a huge feature of their music and they always take a sax player on tour with them. The highlight of Days of Thunder is the incredible melodic hooks and blazing solos allowed by their unashamed embrace of the saxophone. It’s something that they followed up with Vampires on their debut album Endless Summer, as well as the instrumental track Crockett’s Revenge. When their second album Kids ended up being conspicuously absent when it came to the growling metallic roars of the sax, some longtime fans almost started a riot on the internet! The introduction of an instrument that’s not typically found in heavily electronic music was a stroke of genius. It created another organic, human element to the music besides Tyler Lyle’s lyrical and introspective pop-country vocal stylings. Something that could create a melody that fans could sing along to, as well as set the stage on fire in a blaze of virtuosity and showmanship.

The band isn’t musically standing still, either. Two songs they’ve been playing live on more recent shows have been hinting at new directions The Midnight could be heading in the future. Brooklyn is a stripped-down ballad driven by Tyler’s vocals and country-style guitar playing, whilst Monsters is a dark modern dance-pop song with ultra-emotive hooks.Both of these directions are far away from the sound that we first heard on songs like Days of Thunder and it’s proof that The Midnight, like many bands with great longevity, are willing to venture outside of their musical comfort zone. That’s something that I fear that many synthwave artists will refuse to do and it’ll eventually kill them off. Good songwriting is king above all else and The Midnight are definitely putting that right at the top of their priorities. As it should be expected really, considering both of them are seasoned songwriters and producers themselves! There’s also been the live addition of indie-rock vocalist, guitarist and bassist Lelia Broussard to live shows. Whilst The Midnight have had a female guest vocalist before in the form of Nikki Flores, Lelia Broussard seems to fit like the band like a glove. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she becomes a permanent member of the band, adding yet another sonic texture they can draw upon with her higher register vocals and proficient guitar and bass chops.

In short, you’d better get used to The Midnight being around. They’re not going away any time soon. We could even see them being high up on the bill at prominent festivals in a few years! Of course, only time will tell whether they outlast the Synthwave boom.