Midnight Movies - Nights EP
A Solid EP - Nothing More, Nothing Less.
Nearly eleven months after their second full-length, Lion the Girl, Midnight Movies has followed up with Nights EP. Short but sweet at times, it consists of two previously unreleased songs, two imminently danceable remixes of album tracks, and two versions of the band’s Moody Blues cover, ‘Nights in White Satin.’ Their two cracks at the cover are virtually identical, and both are fairly faithful to the original (minus the orchestra and the spoken word poetry); they differ from one another mainly in that singer Jenna Oliver delivers the second version in French rather than English. Notably, hearing the line “Cause I love you, yes, my love, oh, how I love you” sung with apocalyptic gravitas seems like overstatement in The Moody Blues’ native tongue, but sounds perfectly natural in French. Nice move, Midnight Movies.
If you dug the band’s last release, then you’ll find more to dig here; conversely, if the last one left you cold, then this EP won’t do much to change your opinion. The remixes are fun and the new tracks are solid, but there’s not much here as far as flow, cohesion, or distinctiveness. ‘Nights in White Satin’ and ‘Mes Reves de Satin’ are the standout moments and are definitely worth checking out, but the inclusion of both suggests that Nights is geared toward established fans and completists - as perhaps an EP should be. As a companion to Lion the Girl, Nights is just what the doctor ordered. As a standalone release, it’s is a tad clunky.
Drew Messinger-Michaels
