Bright Midnight - White Shoes

Hear The Track Here

There have been many track-a-month merchants this year from Soundclick, and while that's not a bad thing - for them or for me - but it can lead to a little staleness in my response, moreso if I don't like the style in the first place. No such ignominy for Bright Midnight on that score because they explore the music of classic rock as easily as they do Manchester Miserablists (Ed: not a band btw). So while I can contain my enthusiasm for the vocal and views of the miserable style, the music behind it is often raw as a sandpapered face and it's that rawness that Bright Midnight have, I feel, been struggling for. Their vocals and lyrics need not worry overmuch because, after all, it's just a question of finding the right balance. I got all misty eyed then when I saw 'sometimes it just takes a while for everything to come together' in the comments for this song. Yay, finally now they can get the higher ratings they probably deserve??

Well, lessee...

Considering the band live some four thousand or so miles from Manchester (they are from Texas), Bright Midnight do an uncannily good impression of actually being a Manchester band, which I suppose is a good thing. Taking over a year to make, White Shoes is definitely one of the more complex tracks this band has ever sent my way and - in some ways - this is one of their better ones too. White Shoes is also maybe the most proto-punk of all their output and considering this is their sub-genre, it's about time they showed their punky credentials and White Shoes does that job admirably.

The thing that keeps me (and others) listening to this string of tracks is because, no matter how rough the sound may be, the underlying song and performance more than makes up for any sonic problems. Besides, one of the hallmarks of punk was its rough and ready approach and in the case of White Shoes really applies to the vocal which sound very live and immediate. What it lacked in musical sense, it made up with it by the sheer exuberance of what was being sung. On reflection this is certainly one of the best tracks I have heard from this band yet and - given their rate of output - we can only hope for more.

High Energy proto punk. Highly Recommended.