The Midnight has announced that their new full-length studio album Heroes – due out September 9th via Counter Records. Along with today’s news, the band is releasing the celebratory new single “Heartbeat” – a rousing and electrifying track that helps set the tone for the album, which was written during isolation by the band’s Tim McEwan and Tyler Lyle.
Heroes represents a clear sonic shift for the duo, who have expanded their lineup to include three live musicians – Lelia Broussard on bass, Royce Whittaker on guitar, and Justin Klunk on saxophone and synth – with both Broussard and Whittaker working alongside them on the new LP which was produced by McEwan and mixed by Ingmar Carlson (Tate McCrae, Disclosure, Carly Rae Jepsen).
Heroes is also the third in a trilogy of albums that started with 2018’s Kids – which reached #1 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Chart – and was followed in 2020 with Monsters. “…for me, Kids is self-knowledge, Monsters is self-love, and then Heroes is empathy,” said Lyle. “I got into depth psychology and this idea of etiology, the way a human forms,” he said about Heroes, adding that “the world doesn’t get better but we do. We grow into ourselves. We grow into our voice.”
You can hear this shift in the new songs which are more visceral and warmer. For a band that started as a synth-heavy duo, they have come a long way – creating fully realized arena worthy songs. From new single “Heartbeat” with its Van Halen-inspired synth leads, echoing drums, layered vocal chants and an explosive chorus to last month’s single, the propulsive guitar-laden “Change Your Heart or Die” – Heroes ushers in The Midnight’s next era with some of their biggest and boldest songs yet.
While taking a huge sonic step forward on Heroes, the band’s music still possesses the dramatic and nostalgic streak they’ve become known for since their 2014 debut EP Days of Thunder. The new LP also reflects the confidence they’ve gained in their songwriting thanks in part due to their expanded live lineup. The band’s vivid sound is well-suited to full rock instrumentation and the five-piece has cemented that in front of massive sold-out crowds this past year in 1-2k-capacity venues as well as a sold out 5k-capacity Brixton Academy show in London this past Spring. This is up from 500-capacity clubs in 2019 and has the band looking ahead to playing 1-5k sized venues in 2022.
Heroes is an album of songs about togetherness and trials won by love. Listen to both “Heartbeat” and “Change Your Heart or Die” now, pre-order/pre-save the September 9th LP HERE and catch the band live this coming fall, confirmed dates below.
THE MIDNIGHT ON TOUR
9/17 @ Music Midtown in Atlanta, GA
9/21 @ Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, NV
9/23 @ Belly Up in Aspen, CO
9/24 @ Mission Ballroom in Denver, CO
9/25 @ The Complex in Salt Lake City, UT
9/26 @ The Knitting Factory in Boise, ID
9/28 @ The Paramount in Seattle, WA
9/29 @ Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR
10/1 @ Fox Theater in Oakland, CA
10/2 @ Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, CA
10/4 @ The Observatory North Park in San Diego, CA
10/5 @ The Van Buren in Phoenix, AZ
10/6 @ The Rialto in Tucson, AZ
10/7-10/9 @ Austin City Limits Fest Weekend 1 in Austin, TX
10/9 @ Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, OK
10/10 @ The Truman in Kansas City, MO
10/11 @ The Pageant in St. Louis, MO
10/13 @ Iron City in Birmingham, AL
10/14 @ The Civic Center in New Orleans, LA
10/14-10/16 @ Austin City Limits Fest Weekend 2 in Austin, TX
