Friday, August 21, 2009

Bright Midnight - The Stranger

Hear The Track Here

When I reviewed Bright Midnight's Floating Feather (Sleepy Mood) (July 2009) it didn't exactly blow my musical skirts up and not just because of the roughness of the sound. There is a strain of lo-fi music that does entertain a lot of people but ultimately, I think, music that is flawed, is flawed, period. Yeah, yeah, damn techies....but there is a point to musical rules...it's principally what the listener has grown up with. Anyway, it was the first time out for a relative newcomer, and I have heard much, much worse so I quickly passed on it and waited for the next track up.

The Stranger it is then... Let's start by quoting you this from the SC page 'Going to be in Rock Band! Bright Midnight aka Hillis Emanuelson, with help from drummer Jimmy Jenkins and bassist Austin Merrill, are putting the song "The Stranger" onto the world reknown rhythm game "Rock Band"!' Wow, I mean WOW. Damn, that's some good going, congratulations. I wonder also whether the version for that is going be a properly recorded and produced track. I presume so considering that the Rock Band series has a good name for that sort of thing. As good a piece of rugged blues rock as The Stranger is, I couldn't imagine this version coming up to bat for such an honour.

It's not that there is anything awfully wrong with it either. If for example you like blues rock, then this is a very tasty sample that has Doors references galore (although probably unintentional) - it's also a whisker under seven minutes. As a rough and ready blues it's definitely going to find a few fans. Put it like this, one of the main defenders of Bright Midnight so far has been Thomas J Marchant, and they explore much the same field. I didn't find this track anything like as sloppy as the first track and even got into it's classic rock feel over time. A nice blend of classic rock and Alternative.

Longwinded maybe but Recommended all the same.

No comments: