Album Review: Midnight

Purity, clarity, and unity of vision, purpose and voice: a description of Midnight, the latest album by Aotearoa’s heroes of Americana bluegrass style, You Me Everybody. This intrepid quintet have crafted an inspiring collection of songs that cut through the darkness and confusion of these times, offering a degree of hope for better things.

I was fortunate enough to encounter the band some 6 years ago at one of Jamie McPhail’s Sitting Room Sessions, the precursors to the famed Small Hall Sessions, and they impressed me greatly then. In the interim they’ve released both a debut EP and full-length album, and this is the famed “difficult second album”, to borrow a phrase from Billy Bragg. Spoiler alert, there doesn’t appear to be anything difficult about it at all, the band effortlessly delivering an inspiring set that delivers tales of hope, class struggle, self-reflection, and much more besides. All in the space of just 13 songs-quite the achievement indeed!

Leading off this strong set is Laurence Frangos-Rhodes’ Misdirection with its prominent banjo and mandolin lines setting the tone for what is to follow. The title track, written by all of the band, follows this, featuring the angelic vocals of Kim Bonnington, accompanied by melodic strings as she weaves a tale of longing for a more pure time. A theme of nostalgia that is repeated as Midnight progresses, in a kind of milder antipodean expression of the Portuguese ‘saudade’, the emotional state that inspires their famous Fado style. But milder, of course, because us antipodeans don’t do things too strong!

This spirit of reflection carries through to the third track, Heart of Stone, its lyrics talking of simultaneous “bittersweet nostalgia” and acceptance of day-to-day reality-“just watch the sun rise and fall, I did my best, I gave it all”. The ballad Silver Spoon tells a tale of dalliance with, and exploitation by, those who would deem themselves to be of better character than the common man, but reveal themselves for what they are. Busy Without Me is a paean to a quieter life-“life can be busy without me”. Delivered at an ironically fast pace, with relatively busy instrumentation, because why not?

The instrumental Sam’s Tune, written by band co-founder (along with Laurence) Sam Frangos-Rhodes, gives all the players opportunity to show their skills, and forms a natural pause in the emotional content delivered by the lyrics. But I’m not going to give you a track-by-track spoiler of the whole album-suffice it from these first 5 to be enough of a promise of what’s to follow! You really do need to hear this for yourself-it’ll reward you in spades for your efforts! And it’ll set you up with a nice degree of familiarity with the material, ready to catch the nationwide tour running from March through July, coming to a town near you-and we all know it’s much more fun when you know the songs…

So to recap, a very fine collection indeed, setting out as an early contender from left field to be among the year’s best, and a great taster for the live experience to follow.