Bright Midnight - Don't Eye Me Like A Child

Hear The Track Here

I was a bit surprised to find that I've now reviewed about a half a dozen Bright Midnight tracks, which isn't bad going considering I only met this Dallas, TX based singer/songwriter (Hills Emanuelson by name) a few short months ago. Reviewing Floating Feather (Sleepy Mood) in no way prepared me for the way this musician would mutate over those few short months. As much as it had energy and ideas, it just didn't sit right and I wrote 'it's early days yet, and I've reviewed tracks similar to this from musicians who learnt very quickly from being in a community like Soundclick'. See, I might even senile but I'm often right. Since then, of course, we've been through the whole Ghost Of Jim Morrison past, which sounds a hell of a lot better than it looks and should definitely be checked out if you owe your allegiance to a certain Lizard King.

Although Hills started this project as a one man band, I did notice that he has roped some other players into it now. Adding Austin Merrill on bass and Jimmy Jenkins on drums is a wise move because, hey you get to share the load!! Believe me, folks, being a one man band is no fun. No one to argue with, get drunk and fall down with... Anyway...on... I've compared this artist before to our own Thomas J (who is also a BM fan) and that sticks out of this track a mile. Mind you, it's only a surface sound thing because these are two very different artists, and Bright Midnight tend to favour the Northern English sound of (say) the Smiths or the more obvious Doors reference. More to the point, I think drummer Jimmy Jenkins needed wringing out after this session, the drum being one of the highlights for me.

As I say this is miles away from the rock based stuff Bright Midnight were doing at the beginning, and I have to say I do prefer this sound - albeit rough, chaotic and wobbly around the edges. I think this may have come from the same session that produced Floating Feather (Blue Day & Age) (November 2009) because it shares a lot of that sound. There is no doubt that Bright Midnight have made huge strides in a few months but are still finding their feet, and I definitely see some bold music coming from this direction in the not too distant future. In the meantime this will be more than enough to whet my musical whistle, and maybe yours too. Be warned though, it is a bit loose.

Recommended jazzy/funky Alternative.