speed of dark

Indie Mom and I had the excellent good fortune to see Midnight Movies at the Troubadour in December 2006, just after we had started this blog. The band was impressive then, and they seem to have only grown in maturity and confidence, to judge from their latest release, an EP called Nights.

Of course an old hippie like me has an occasional soft spot for remakes of old rock songs. That said, it would be easy for me to focus on Midnight Movies' great cover of the Moody Blues' "Nights In White Satin" that has been a showstopper in their live shows. In fact, Midnight Movies has two covers of that lush and lovely old song on this EP--the other version is in French.

But truly, of the six tracks on Nights, the best in my opinion are Midnight Movies' own tunes, which include two remixes of songs that appeared on last year's full-length Lion the Girl: "Souvenirs" (Rick Zinner Remix) and "Patient Eye" (James Iha Remix). It's easy to see why the former Smashing Pumpkins member would like this band--they seem to inhabit the same space between dance, goth, and psychedelia that the Pumpkins did. You can hear that scope and dynamic in both of the other tracks, "Should Have Known" and the dark and delicious "Stormy Eyes."

Nights is a very welcome addition to the song catalog of this very talented foursome.

Should Have Known from Nights EP (2008)

MySpace | Website | Label: New Line Records
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