The show itself was fantastic – from the opener Violet Days amazing, punchy synthwork to the mesmerizing light show courtesy Cory Mattonen, to the audience singing along right up until the final shimmering track, it was truly a don’t – miss experience.

Hours before, as Lito Hernandez’s sax pealed in the background for soundcheck, I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with McEwan and Lyle for an interview.  Before our time was up, they revealed the name of their upcoming single and teased a new album!

The pair spoke first about how astounded they’ve been from the audience reception they’ve received, in the U.S. and in Europe.

“I would say we’re used to playing to the states – and when we got to Europe we didn’t know how they were going to react. I would say though, when we got to Europe that had even more of a hardcore reaction. It was really great to see the energy levels there.” McEwan said. “When we announced the European tour last year – off the bat the sales were really great, much stronger than we expected. We actually needed up upgrading a lot of the shows to bigger rooms in Europe.”

“I was really surprised by Baltimore last night. We were pleasantly surprised by Seattle and Denver. I would say that the variations were much more pronounced in Europe. Spanish audiences were NUTS, they were all for it.” Lyle said through a laugh.

Both of them related that the tour had been going well, and the support from their touring staff was indispensable. Believe it or not they’re travelling by van – something they said they’ll have to upgrade soon.

“Our poor Tour Manager, Chris Paules, I think it’ll be his last time driving. He wears about 5 different hats and I think we’ve broken him now.” Lyle chuckled. Our merch staff Minaz Rayani has been driving too.”

McEwan explained, “It’s all hands on deck. We’re still kind of in the early days. We didn’t know how many people were going to show up to these shows – we’re doing a lot of first-time markets…. We’re very lucky to be working with a great group of people, management team, booking agents, our tour manager – they’re very good at what they do, much better than we are at what we do. It makes for an infrastructure that we can trust in. We can just show up and play, which is an incredible luxury.”

After the tour talk we got down to the music. McEwan and Lyle explained a bit behind why they were drawn to the synthwave sound.

“I’ve always been drawn to the bittersweet, nostalgic, uplifting but slightly melancholic chord progressions. I grew up with 80’s music so the aesthetic was kind of natural to me. It was liking finding something you knew you could go all out with – where it was okay to just be over the top.” McEwan said.

Lyle picked up, “My songwriting comes from a more narrative country Nashville pop writing sensibilities and it was my writing exercise to write images. With the synth sound – the aesthetic is so specific the images are kind of already there, you just put them in the right place.”

They also explained that they don’t want to be placed in a genre box, and that they still plan on expanding their sound.

“We’re trying to connect with people.” Lyle said in a point blank fashion. “This is a human connection business…we’re artists but we’re here for mutual healing. The strict genre boundaries or the narcissism of small genre differences aren’t important. Splicing up the definition of genre that’s 5 years old is – It’s a palette of colors, not a box.  We’re still trying to find the corners of the room.”

After, we spoke about the “Kids” album. Some fans had related they thought it was a bit short, and I asked if it was originally intended to be an EP. This is when they revealed some awesome news – “Kids” may end up being party of a trilogy.

“We had some tracks that just didn’t fit, and we thought …this is thematically maybe the next step of where we go from “Kids,” so maybe it makes sense to save these tracks for the next one and that’s when we realized, “Oh, this could be a three-parter!” McEwan said with a sly smile.

Lyle continued. “As of now, it’s a trilogy. Everything is open to change. But we have a lot of songs written, and a direction we’re going in so… yeah.”

As we wrapped up our interview, the pair looked at each other and McEwan took a serious tone.
“Should we tell him?” – “Sure, why not” came Lyle’s reply. Then they further revealed the first single from an unnamed album is coming soon – that single is called “America Online.”

“We teased that there might be a new single, but we did it on April 1st….” McEwan laughed. “We wanted to give it a few days to kind of confirm it, because people were going “I can’t tell if this is a joke or not!” and we were like ….’Excellent’” he said, doing his best Simpon’s Smithers impersonation before continuing.

“Basically, it’s going to be the first single from the next chapter, it’s more of an instrumental feel, It’s a thesis of the next album. It speaks to the disconnectedness and sort of the loneliness of… let’s say we’ve moved into the internet age from “Kids.” It’s sort of modem sounds and that kind of thing. The track is called “America Online.”

Lyle perked up. “As a kid you’re sort of [disconnected] from the world… But when you’re in your teenage years, everything is sort of inner-conflict, relationships, all happening at once. The tensions of romantic love, acceptance in groups and things like that.”

McEwen closed with a brief description.

“…it’s not a sunset right? It’s more of a sort of blog track. I love going on vaporwave track playlists on youtube. I love the low-grade, low-fi, bitcrushed sound – it’s like that but with a bit more of a cleaner palette, a cleaner mix. So, that one will set the tone. Tyler is definitely on it, but in a bit more of a…vocodery way,” he chuckled.

10. Robert Parker – End of The Night

Robert Parker never ceases to amaze. This expert blend of nudisco and synthpop hits all the right spots, creating a memorable and cinematic experience that we are sure not to forget anytime soon!

9. Dance with the Dead – Loved to Death

 Dance With The Dead’s most driven, intense album yet – “Loved to Death” is an instant classic. Pealing iconic synths and chugging baselines underscore this album’s immense feat of production.

8. Timecop 1983 Night Drive

This melancholic masterpiece perfectly embodies the aesthetic of driving long, twisting roads at night. A return to form, “Night Drive” is yet another expertly produced album from the one and only Timecop1983.

7. Waveshaper – Lost Shapes

“Lost Shapes” is a collection of B-Sides from Waveshaper. Chock full of early music, ideas for video games, film scores, demos, and more – this fantastic album acts like a time capsule of waveshaper’s unique sound, and it’s fascinating to hear it evolve in real time.

6. ORAX – Tearwave

ORAX tears into the darkwave scene, elevating the dreary genre with his powerful “Tearwave.” Delivering forward thinking melodies, intense sonic textures, and upgraded vocals – this album is truly a moment of progress and expansion.

5. DJ Ten – Trinity

Filling a niche desperately lacking in the synthwave scene, DJ Ten has returned with an intense blend of retro and hip-hop, resulting in some of the most interesting beats we’ve heard all year. This synthesized trip hop breakbeat vaportrap is innovative and perfectly produced.

4. Sung – Fahrenheit

The first full length album from Sung, “Fahrenheit” is simply a modern achievement in synthwave. A true tour de force. Bravo!

3. GUNSHIP – Dark All Day

This much awaited second album from GUNSHIP, “Dark All Day” is a beautiful synthpop experience of from start to finish. Incorporating darksynth aesthetics, GUNSHIP continues to grow.

2. W O L F C L U B – Infinity

W O L F C L U B’s “Infinity” signals a true return to form – really, we have not been able to stop listening to “Tears” all year! A standout example of the New Retro Wave sound.

1. The Midnight – Kids

“Kids” stands above the rest this year – not simply as a musical work, but more importantly as a much needed social commentary. Cutting directly to the heart of what makes nostalgia such a powerful emotion, this album is a lyrical masterpiece.

Honorable Mention –  Sferro – Sferrare (2008​-​2018)

Whether you know it or not – Sferro is likely one of the reasons you listen to synthwave right now. An early adopter of the sound, Sferro was a pioneer, a beautiful producer, and founder of Girlfriend Records. This year he ceased making his wonderful music.

To commemorate his career, Sferrare (2008​-​2018) has been released, featuring rare and unreleased tracks from throughout his career.

10. Sellorekt/LA Dreams – Shadow Voices
by Sellorekt/LA Dreams

9. Carbon Killer – Carbon Inc
by Jay Jackson

8. Lucy In Disguise – Unknown Frequency
by Fvckrender
7. Mitch Murder – Hardwired
by Junkboy
6. Deadlife – Variation on the Resolve
by SKEOR
5. DJ Ten – Trinity
by Fab Ciraolo 
4. Astral Tales – Seafari
By Magdalena Radziej
3. Hollywood Burns – Invaders
by View from the Coffin

2. The Midnight – Kids
by Aaron Campbell

Honorable Mention:
Microchip Terror – Illegal Experiments
by Microchip Terror

Honorable Mention:
Neoslave – Messiah
By : Andrew Tremblay 

1. Carpentur Brut – Leather Teeth
By Jesse Daubertes & Adrien Havet

The Midnight stunned audiences in 2016 and 2017 with the releases “Endless Summer,” and “Nocturnal,” – each taking top spots in our end-of-year lists and garnering them one of the best known names in the genre of synthwave and retro music altogether. Now, after building immense hype with outstanding singles “America 2,” “Lost Boy,” and “Arcade Dreams,” their third glorious album, “Kids” has hit the digital shelves.

As usual, The Midnight’s dreamy synthwork on “Kids” is absolutely stellar and presented with a perfect mix and master. Their sound has been refined to and almost needle fine point which prods directly on our collective sentimental soft pots. Tyler Lyle’s vocals continually cut through the retro haze to deliver a poignant lyricism and deliver a nostalgia bomb directly to the ground-zero of our hearts.

In fact, the lyrics are likely the most notable part of this album. The Midnight looks back wistfully through rose tinted glasses lined with a snapshot of 1980’s mall and video game culture – but we’ve seen that many times before from various artists. “Kids” manages to be a singular experience as it approaches nostalgia in a more adult fashion, making a cultural statement instead of just regurgitating formulaic 80′ pastiche.

What’s different with “Kids” is that this sense of youthful nostalgia, the iconic 80’s childhood is juxtaposed against almost dystopian present day cultural references. The lyrics of “Wave” in particular laments our digital culture – the false sense of togetherness from mass media, the Tinder hookups, the student debt, the antidepressants and other drug use. “America 2” is a melancholic search for the American dream and finding only violence, hunger and struggle. Lyrics from the title track “Kids” offers a more metaphorical take, “We grow up And move away The seasons pass but the monsters stay.”

The effect is astounding, creating a stronger longing for the past than ever before and marking one of the first new-generation synthwave acts to truly try and make a cultural statement bookended and contextualized by nostalgia.

The only drawback to this album is it’s length. While “Endless Summer” clocked in at 12 tracks and no interludes, “Kids,” not counting “Youth” and “Saturday Mornings,” and only counting “Kids” once, comes in at 6 tracks – that’s fewer songs than the “Nocturnal” EP. Not helping matters is the fact that three of those cuts were already released before the album.

All in all, “Kids” is a fantastic album, save for the length. Top tracks: “Wave,” “Kids (Reprise),” and “America 2.”

Kids by The Midnight

The Midnight is comprised of nostalgia wizards Tim McEwen and Tyler Lyle – who caught the hearts of synth fans in 2016 with their sophomore release, “Endless Summer.” With the recent debuts of the fantastic singles “Lost Boy” and “America 2,” many fans have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of “Kids,” and today we finally have it!

Last year, The Midnight took the top spot on our top selection of EP’s with “Nocturnal.” These new tracks from the EP and singles from their upcoming album have been just as astonishing as their older material – managing to update and enliven their sound while still retaining all of the charm and mystique that made so many fall for them in the first place.

The newest teaser that accompanies today’s announcement is no different. Their youthful, delirious melodies swathed in melancholy affectionately tug at the heartstrings. After listening to these releases and teaser, we at NRW are truly excited to see how they round out the rest of “Kids!”

“…We grow up and move away, seasons pass but the monsters stay…”

Click Here to Pre-Order The Midnight’s New Album “Kids!”