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.
Dream Away
The Midnight Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They dreamin' up a good life
That wouldn't hurt and wouldn't spoil
The sun never set there, the water clean and pure
In the beauty there was purpose, so certain, safe, and sure
I could live this life forever but from far, far away
I thought I heard you callin', you said I could not stay
And I woke up in a fever, our calculations were wrong
When hope makes you bleed
When life gets you down
There's all the love you need
Underground
To make a way for the dark hearts
To feel the love I found
There's all the love you need
Underground
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
Picture of a sunset above a turquoise tide
The beauty of a just world and the convenience of a lie
I tore down that picture, there is no other perfect life
But in the dirt under my fingers, maybe something will survive
When hope makes you bleed
When life gets you down
There's all the love you need
Underground
To make a way for the dark hearts
To feel the love I found
There's all the love you need
Underground
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
The lyrics to The Midnight's "Dream Away" describe the concept of escapism through dreaming. The singer is "busy dreamin', buildin' us a world," a perfect world where "the sun never set there" and "the water clean and pure." This world is idyllic and free of pain and suffering. The beauty of this world is so compelling that the singer wishes to stay there forever, but this paradise is interrupted when the dreamer hears a call, beckoning them back to the real world. These calls ultimately become impossible to ignore and the dreamer wakes up.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the importance of love in finding a way out of life's challenges. When hope makes you bleed and life gets you down, there's all the love you need underground. The Underground could represent a source of inner strength, a place where the dark hearts can feel the love that the dreamer has found.
The second verse is a realization that the world isn't perfect and that we all have to face our problems. The singer tore down a picture of a perfect world because it's a lie, but in the dirt under their fingers, maybe something will survive. This might be interpreted as a symbolic act of giving up on the idea of a perfect world and searching for new meaning in life, even if it means starting from scratch on the remnants of something that was once beautiful.
Overall, "Dream Away" is a song about the power of dreams and how they can be used to cope with the harsh realities of life. It acknowledges that sometimes, we need to dream away to maintain our sanity, but in the end, we must all face the consequences of our actions.
Line by Line Meaning
I was busy dreamin', buildin' us a world
I was using my imagination to create a perfect world for us
They dreamin' up a good life
Other people are also dreaming up an ideal life
That wouldn't hurt and wouldn't spoil
A life that wouldn't have any difficulties or troubles
The sun never set there, the water clean and pure
In this world, there was constant sunshine and the water was pristine
In the beauty there was purpose, so certain, safe, and sure
The perfect world was not just aesthetically beautiful, but also had a clear purpose that made one feel secure
I could live this life forever but from far, far away
I felt that I could continue living in this dream world forever, though I was far away from it
I thought I heard you callin', you said I could not stay
I heard someone calling me from reality, telling me that I had to leave the dream world
And I woke up in a fever, our calculations were wrong
I came back to reality in a confused and agitated state, realizing that my ideas of a perfect life were unrealistic
The pillows could not hold us and the angels are gone
My dreams were fleeting and could not contain us forever
When hope makes you bleed
When one's hopes are dashed, it can be incredibly painful
When life gets you down
When life becomes too difficult to handle
There's all the love you need Underground
Sometimes the best kind of love can be found beneath the surface
To make a way for the dark hearts
To help those who are struggling and suffering
To feel the love I found
To experience the kind of love that I discovered underground
Picture of a sunset above a turquoise tide
A beautiful image of a sunset above the ocean
The beauty of a just world and the convenience of a lie
The idea of a world that is both beautiful and just may be appealing, but is likely not entirely truthful or realistic
I tore down that picture, there is no other perfect life
I came to the realization that there is no other ideal life than the one we have
But in the dirt under my fingers, maybe something will survive
However, there is still something hopeful in the tangible world around us that can be cultivated
We dream away
We continue to dream, even when reality does not meet our expectations
We dream away
We continue to dream, even when faced with disappointment
We dream away
Our dreams provide an escape from the harsh realities of life
We dream away
We continue to dream as a way of coping with difficulties and hardships
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Songtrust Ave
Written by: Tim McEwan, Tyler Lyle
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
ab customzz
I was busy dreamin'
Buildin' us a world
Daydreamin' up a good life
That wouldn't hurt and wouldn't spoil
The sun never set there
The water, clean and pure
In the beauty, there was purpose
So certain, safe, and sure
I could live this lie forever
But from far, far away
I thought I heard you callin'
You said I could not stay
And I woke up in a fever
My calculations were wrong
The pillars could not hold us
And the angels are gone
When hope makes you bleed
When life gets you down
There's all the love you need
Underground
To make a way for the dark hearts
To feel the love I found
There's all the love you need
Underground
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
Picture of a sunset
Above a turquoise tide
The beauty of a just world
And the convenience of a lie
I tore down that picture
There is no other perfect life
But in the dirt under my fingers
Maybe something will survive
When hope makes you bleed
When life gets you down
There's all the love you need
Underground
To make a way for the dark hearts
To feel the love I found
There's all the love you need
Underground
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
lilililiyabbay
[Verse 1]
I was busy dreamin'
Buildin' us a world
Daydreamin' up a good life
That wouldn't hurt and wouldn't spoil
The sun never set there
The water, clean and pure
In the beauty, there was purpose
So certain, safe, and sure
I could live this lie forever
But from far, far away
I thought I heard you callin'
You said I could not stay
And I woke up in a fever
My calculations were wrong
The pillars could not hold us
And the angels are gone
[Pre-Chorus]
When hope makes you bleed
When life gets you down
There's all the love you need
Underground
To make a way for the dark hearts
To feel the love I found
There's all the love you need
Underground
[Chorus]
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
[Verse 2]
Picture of a sunset
Above a turquoise tide
The beauty of a just world
And the convenience of a lie
I tore down that picture
There is no other perfect life
But in the dirt under my fingers
Maybe something will survive
[Pre-Chorus]
When hope makes you bleed
When life gets you down
There's all the love you need
Underground
To make a way for the dark hearts
To feel the love I found
There's all the love you need
Underground
[Chorus]
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
Shuhaib Thawoos
Lyrics :
I was busy dreamin', buildin' us a world
They dreamin' up a good life
That wouldn't hurt and wouldn't spoil
The sun never set there, the water clean and pure
In the beauty there was purpose, so certain, safe, and sure
I could live this life forever but from far, far away
I thought I heard you callin', you said I could not stay
And I woke up in a fever, our calculations were wrong
The pillows could not hold us and the angels are gone
When hope makes you bleed
When life gets you down
There's all the love you need
Underground
To make a way for the dark hearts
To feel the love I found
There's all the love you need
Underground
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
Picture of a sunset above a turquoise tide
The beauty of a just world and the convenience of a lie
I tore down that picture, there is no other perfect life
But in the dirt under my fingers, maybe something will survive
When hope makes you bleed
When life gets you down
There's all the love you need
Underground
To make a way for the dark hearts
To feel the love I found
There's all the love you need
Underground
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
We dream away
Source: LyricFind
Fauna
A song about keeping someone in your dreams when you can't have them in person- this song hits me harder than other song lyrics do.
Alpaca Pierce
Yeah, me too. This song kinda healed me after a bad breakup
bigImranAbbasfanMD
This one stands out for me with the rhthym of the percussion, the nature sounds, and that violin-like sad cry that goes along with the chorus that gives like middle eastern or lost-in-a-vast-place vibes. This is on repeat!!
Chester1618
The preview on IG made me nervous I wasn’t going to like the song. However, this song is on repeat as well!! Probably my favorite one in the whole album aside from Seventeen.
bigImranAbbasfanMD
@Chester1618 I hadn't heard the preview and newly discovered this band! They have good lyrics and of course unique music. Every track brings something fresh so I'm never bored. Thanks for the like and reply
N Rolling
yes dream away and night skies are my favorite so unique
Ashu Singh
Exactly!
jjjcubed
This track grows on you the most. It takes you somewhere else. It’s The Midnight, evolved.
bigImranAbbasfanMD
Yes!! It's that sad-string-instrument-like-vocals that creates that feeling for me
Jonny ogy
@bigImranAbbasfanMD that describes it perfectly! The music and then having those vocals adds a whole new level of depth and awesomeness....!