Music isn’t just music. What I mean by that provocative statement is that a song isn’t just a tune to carry the lyrics; it is more than just something to dance to; it goes beyond mere throwaway entertainment. Or, at least, it should. Whilst it can be all the things I have listed, those facets are the bare minimum of boxes that anyone worthy of the name artist should be looking to tick.
Midnight Psychic understands this only too well, so whilst you can take their music at face value, that would be to miss the deeper connotations of what they do. What they do is create worlds. Worlds with one foot in reality and the other in …well, otherness.
And so, with Heartache in the 12th House, their new album, we find ourselves wandering a gothic-infused, post-punk, darkwave dancescape that feels as much the soundtrack to a Stephen King story as it does a chart contender.
If the opener, “Still Life,” is a slow groove through a monochrome world of harsh shadow and soft, diffused light, “You Should Move On” shows that they are equally at home with alt-nightclub, dancefloor fillers, a song built out of dark sonic matter, brooding basslines and infectious and driven digital beats.
“Iron Age” leans into more shoegazing sheens and shimmering walls of sonics but then we have “Aubree’s Dance” a track forged of stygian cinematics and drifting atmospheres.Heartache in the 12th House is a cracking album, one that proves that the power and imagination that drove post-punk in all its forms back in the day has never lost its attraction. Many contemporary artists are turning to those sounds for inspiration and influence, and, when they do so, they would do well to consider this album, this band, a handy benchmark. Aim for the standards set here, and you won’t go too far astray.
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