Prior to forming The Midnight, Tyler Lyle and Tim McEwan were both established musicians. Lyle was an indie-folk singer-songwriter based in the state of Georgia and gained initial notability with several self-released titles, becoming regionally and nationally known. McEwan was a drummer and producer based in Denmark, later becoming a member of the Danish production group Deekay who has written and produced songs for many popular artists.
The pair met for the first time in 2012 at a songwriter’s workshop in North Hollywood organized by Katie Donovan, Lyle’s A&R representative at the time. Prior to meeting, McEwan had listened to some of Lyle’s previous work and liked Lyle’s folk sound. Despite differing musical backgrounds, they bonded over a mutual love of 80s rock and began to write songs together. After initially struggling to define their sound, McEwan suggested that they compose songs in the synthwave style. McEwan had prior exposure to the burgeoning genre and was inspired by the movie Drive. The first song they wrote together as a duo was WeMoveForward, which was included on their debut EP Days of Thunder.
STYLE AND WORKFLOW
For most of their career, The Midnight has created a strong and distinct synthwave sound in their music - Tim McEwan once described the band's early albums “as if Miami Vice had a baby with a John Hughes movie”. However, McEwan has continuously expressed a desire to evolve the synthwave genre and not be confined by it. Tyler Lyle has stated several times that the band's philosophy when composing is “combine, not confine”. Influences of genres such as lo-fi, soft rock, trance, and vaporwave can be heard on Monsters, and Lyle's musical background has brought influences of indie folk and Americana to the band's sound as well. Regarding the merging of their individual talents and styles, Lyle has said:
It’s rock and roll with synthesizers. Tim has a keen ear for production, and I can write songs that fit comfortably within the tradition of 20th century classic pop songwriting. Somewhere in the middle things get interesting.
McEwan employs various digital synths in his production, including Serum, Diva, TAL-U-NO-LX, Spire, and Roland Cloud's Jupiter 8 and Juno 106. In mid-2020, he mentioned that his favorite synth to use at the time was U-He's emulation of Prophet-5, known as Repro 5. McEwan has stated that he commonly begins with presets and then tweaks them to his liking. KONTAKT is used for sampling.
Both McEwan and Lyle use Logic Pro on macOS as their primary Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).Universal Audio interfaces are used to capture their sounds, which are then processed using UAD plugins. Using the same utilities makes it easier for them to share session files as a significant amount of their work is done remotely, due to living in different areas of the US. However, they will usually get together in the same room a few times during a release's production and will often write and record together while on tour. A release's sound and overall direction are generally created by the two bouncing ideas off each other - McEwan will send Lyle a rough track or beat, which Lyle will then think of lyrics and a title that would go good with the beat, after which McEwan will further build and produce the track. McEwan has stated that the production of a typical The Midnight album takes around three to six months, “from the early gestating part to finish”.
Production and drums are handled by McEwan, with Lyle providing guitar, lyrics, and vocals. Lyle has stated that he writes on a daily basis, and many lyrics come from a large number of fragments he keeps stored in Evernote. Most of the remaining instrumentation is digital, but on occasion songs (including most with saxophone and guitar solos) will at first have digital instruments that are then outsourced to other musicians to play live on the track. Thomas Edinger has been the primary saxophone player for The Midnight's releases, and McEwan's brother Oliver has frequently played bass for the band as well.
For live performances, various setups have been used by the band. Lyle stated that the Spring 2019 tour utilized an Ableton rig, with McEwan using an SPD SX sampling pad and MIDI controller. Lyle ran his guitars through a Kemper profiling amp, and he also used an OP1 for certain synth moments and pads.
Sunset
The Midnight Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Lit a match
Closed the door
Waited for the flash
Greyhound Station
we paid in cash
Miss Lazarus, we're coming back
They say it's darkest before the dawn
We've been in this town for far too long
They say it's darkest before the dawn
We're moving on
Sunset
No regrets
First chance last dance
Stuck in the middle
Even bad girls know good love
You taste so sweet it hurts a little
Make our home
Where we stand
One suitcase
And half a plan
Follow the wolves
And sing along
Past the voices
To the Song
The Midnight's song "Sunset" tells the story of two individuals who are running away from their past life to start anew. The lyrics commence with, "Faked our deaths, lit a match, closed the door, waited for the flash, greyhound station, we paid in cash, Miss Lazarus, we're coming back." This is a metaphorical description of their death to their past and restarting anew. They then proceed to sing, "They say it's darkest before the dawn, we've been in this town for far too long, they say it's darkest before the dawn, we're moving on." The lyrics indicate that the individuals were going through a difficult phase in their lives and they needed to take a step back, reflect on their past experiences, and start afresh.
The chorus, "Sunset, no regrets, first chance last dance, stuck in the middle, even bad girls know good love, you taste so sweet it hurts a little" signifies that the individuals are taking their time to appreciate their new beginning, learn from their past mistakes, and savour their present. "Make our home, where we stand, one suitcase, and half a plan, follow the wolves, and sing along, past the voices, to the song" indicates that the individuals are ready to start a new journey and will take each step as it comes, follow their instincts and not be held back by their past.
Overall, the song promotes the theme of starting again and enjoying the present, while learning from the past mistakes.
Line by Line Meaning
Faked our deaths
We pretended that we were dead
Lit a match
We set something on fire
Closed the door
We shut the door behind us
Waited for the flash
We waited for something to happen
Greyhound Station
We were at a Greyhound bus station
we paid in cash
We used money to pay for something
Miss Lazarus, we're coming back
We're returning to a place or person named Miss Lazarus
They say it's darkest before the dawn
Things can get worse before they get better
We've been in this town for far too long
We've been here for a long time and need to leave
We're moving on
We're leaving and going somewhere else
Sunset
The time when the sun goes down
No regrets
We don't have any remorse about our decisions
First chance last dance
This is our opportunity to do something before it's too late
Stuck in the middle
We're in a difficult position
Even bad girls know good love
Everyone deserves to be loved, even if they've made mistakes
You taste so sweet it hurts a little
You are so wonderful that it hurts a little to be away from you
Make our home
We want to create a home for ourselves
Where we stand
We want to make our home where we currently are
One suitcase
We only have one suitcase worth of possessions
And half a plan
We don't have everything figured out yet
Follow the wolves
We're following a group that we admire
And sing along
We're joining in and participating with them
Past the voices
We're ignoring the negative opinions of others
To the Song
We're moving forward with our own path and journey
Contributed by Natalie C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
tayo
on The Equalizer - Not Alone
A very good music can you make some new songs then we will give your channel 24700 subscriber I promise