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.
Deep Blue
The Midnight Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just some distraction
Just a little weeknight booth in the back
I wasn't looking for romance
Just a quick slow dance and the off-chance
That an off night and a side glance
Might lead me to the wrong hands
I wasn't after forever
Just for whatever
I was one of the dark hearts
Thought that they'd never truly be opened
But this is an explosion
Of star crossed and blood rushed
And hair tossed and cheeks flushed
And weeks lost
I wasn't looking for you
I said I never felt my heart like this
She said I never felt my body
I always thought the point of love was just
To keep from, to keep from
Falling into the deep blue, the deep blue
Falling into the deep blue, the deep blue
I wasn't looking for devotion
Just cheap emotion
But I found love
I found love like an ocean
On my second whiskey
Your eyes tried to miss me
They lost control
I didn't know I had a soul
Until the moment you kissed me
I wasn't looking for you
I said I never felt my heart like this
She said I never felt my body
I always thought the point of love was just
To keep from, to keep from
Falling into the deep blue, the deep blue
Falling into the deep blue, the deep blue
I wasn't looking for action
Just some distraction
Just a little weeknight booth in the back
I wasn't looking for romance
Just a quick slow dance and the off-chance
That an off night and a side glance
Might lead me to the wrong hands
In "Deep Blue," The Midnight paints a picture of unexpected love that takes them completely by surprise. The song is about two people who were only looking for a casual encounter, but end up falling deeply in love with each other. The singer sings about how they weren't looking for anything serious, only a distraction or some cheap emotion, but they found much more than they bargained for. They didn't even realize they had a soul until the moment their love interest kissed them.
The lyrics perfectly capture the feeling of falling for someone unexpectedly, and how it can be both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. They both feel like they have never felt their heart or body like this before, and they are amazed that they found love when they weren't even looking for it. The line "I always thought the point of love was just to keep from falling into the deep blue" suggests that they were scared of falling too deep in love and getting hurt, but they fell anyway despite their fears.
Overall, the song is a beautiful tribute to love that comes unexpectedly and takes us by surprise. It's a reminder that sometimes the best things in life happen when we least expect them.
Line by Line Meaning
I wasn't looking for action
I wasn't seeking excitement or entertainment
Just some distraction
Just a brief diversion from everyday life
Just a little weeknight booth in the back
Just a small, secluded space to unwind during the work week
I wasn't looking for romance
I wasn't seeking a serious love relationship
Just a quick slow dance and the off-chance
Just a brief, leisurely dance and the possibility
That an off night and a side glance
That a chance encounter on a lonely night
Might lead me to the wrong hands
Might introduce me to someone I shouldn't be involved with
I wasn't looking for you
I wasn't searching for someone special like you
I wasn't after forever
I wasn't seeking a long-term commitment
Just for whatever
Just for any passing experience
I was one of the dark hearts
I was one of those who had given up on love
Thought that they'd never truly be opened
Never believed that their hearts could be unsealed
But this is an explosion
But this feeling is so intense
Of star crossed and blood rushed
Of intense passion and excitement
And hair tossed and cheeks flushed
And physical attraction and arousal
And weeks lost
And time lost to being lost in love
I said I never felt my heart like this
I never experienced such emotion before
She said I never felt my body
She never experienced such physical sensation
I always thought the point of love was just
I believed that love was only meant
To keep from, to keep from
To avoid, to prevent
Falling into the deep blue, the deep blue
Falling into the abyss of love and surrendering to its power
I wasn't looking for devotion
I wasn't seeking commitment or dedication
Just cheap emotion
Just superficial feelings
But I found love
But I discovered true love and passion
I found love like an ocean
I found love that was vast and overwhelming
On my second whiskey
After having had a couple of drinks
Your eyes tried to miss me
You tried to look away from me
They lost control
They couldn't resist gazing at me
I didn't know I had a soul
I didn't realize I was capable of such deep emotions
Until the moment you kissed me
Until that moment of physical intimacy with you
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Songtrust Ave
Written by: Tim McEwan, Tyler Lyle
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@raidoudan
I wasn't looking for action
Just some distraction
Just a little weeknight booth in the back
I wasn't looking for romance
Just a quick slow dance and the off-chance
That an off night and a side glance
Might lead me to the wrong hands
I wasn't looking for you
I wasn't after forever
Just for whatever
I was one of the dark hearts
Thought that they'd never truly be opened
But this is an explosion
Of star crossed and blood rushed
And hair tossed and cheeks flushed
And weeks lost
I wasn't looking for you
I said I never felt my heart like this
She said I never felt my body
I always thought the point of love was just
To keep from, to keep from
Falling into the deep blue, the deep blue
Falling into the deep blue, the deep blue
I wasn't looking for devotion
Just cheap emotion
But I found love
I found love like an ocean
On my second whiskey
Your eyes tried to miss me
They lost control
I didn't know I had a soul
Until the moment you kissed me
I wasn't looking for you
I said I never felt my heart like this
She said I never felt my body
I always thought the point of love was just
To keep from, to keep from
Falling into the deep blue, the deep blue
Falling into the deep blue, the deep blue
I wasn't looking for action
Just some distraction
Just a little weeknight booth in the back
I wasn't looking for romance
Just a quick slow dance and the off-chance
That an off night and a side glance
Might lead me to the wrong hands
@GRVWY
Lyrics:
I wasn't looking for action, just some distraction
Just a little weeknight, booth in the back
I wasn't looking for romance, just a quick slow dance
On the off chance that an off night and a side glance
Might lead me to the wrong hands
I wasn't looking for you
I wasn't after forever, just for whatever
I was one of the dark hearts who thought that they'd never
Truly be opened, but this is an explosion
Of star-crossed and blood-rushed
And hair-tossed and cheeks flushed and weeks lost
I wasn't looking for you
I said, "I've never felt my heart like this"
She said, "I've never felt my body"
I always thought the point of love was just
To keep from, to keep from
Falling into the deep blue, the deep blue
Falling into the deep blue, the deep blue
I wasn't looking for devotion, just cheap emotion
But I found love, I found love like an ocean
On my second whiskey, your eyes try to miss me
They lost control, I didn't know I had a soul
Until the moment you kissed me
I wasn't looking for you
I said, "I've never felt my heart like this"
She said, "I've never felt my body"
I always thought the point of love was just
To keep from, to keep from
Falling into the deep blue, the deep blue
Falling into the deep blue, the deep blue
I wasn't looking for action, just some distraction
Just a little weeknight, booth in the back
I wasn't looking for romance, just a quick slow dance
On the off chance that an off night and a side glance
Might lead me to the wrong hands
@BrandonHerrera
Fucking killed it, as always!
@the8madness905
¿Who are you? ¿What are you doing here?
Nevermind. Vibe with us.
@the8madness905
¿Who are you? ¿What are you doing here?
Nevermind. Vibe with us.
@Darkaan13
Papa Kalash has some great music tastes
@mex6280
did NOT expect to see you here dude, keep it up AK jesus <3
@thomaslee2771
What a surprise to see papa AK here but this song is an absolute banger
@Musafeer360
The Midnight. The first band who introduced me to Synthwave and New Retro wave.
Thanks guys.
@2eganja1
Me too! Lol
@diegofranco7599
Me too!!
@SparksForces
Same here and kalax