The Midnight Renewal - The North Main EP
In my explorations of the talented indie rock bands out of the Boston area, I came across a gem. The Midnight Renewal, a five-piece rock band out of Rhode Island, came out with the EP But Could I Erase Her in 2004, and my personal involvement with the band began roughly a year later when I helped booked them for a show with Spitalfield and The Audition. The album was filled with entertaining funk-y indie rock, but it left much more to be anticipated. Two years later, The North Main EP updates us on the current feel and movement of the band.
Dear Actress is a perfect song to open an album for The Midnight Renewal, and I don’t kid at all. The song has a very powerful feel to it, touching on the vocal range of vocalist Ryan Moran with high notes and soft whispers. With more power towards the end, the drums lead right into Calling All Cars.
The first two tracks a lot heavier a rock feel than the rest of the album. Dancey rock gives way to a more funk-y sound of The Lottery, a familiar sound that encompassed the band’s earlier EP. The Lottery has easily one of the catchiest sounds of the entire EP from the beginning riff to the end part with the repeated lyrics “We left with high hopes and headed for Ohio” to an intensely dance-worthy sound. I’m Not Buying What You’re Selling pulls from the catchy sound that The Lottery had but includes that heavier element that Calling All Cars had. The Lottery is easily one of my favorite tracks of the album.
One can just imagine the live show during If You Were Drowning I Would Throw You A Cinder Block with dancey rhythms coupled with sections like “Could you slide a little to the left? Could you slide a little to the right? Now shake it off?” that just makes the show that much more fun. Lyrics on The North Main EP are both catchy and presented like a story. “She’s sleeping with the fishes. She is underwater dancing in the heaviest of shoes.” “It seems you treat me as an extra though I’ve got a leading part. You’ve got stars in your eyes but lead in your heart.”
Structurally, The Midnight Renewal’s songs seem more solid and concise, and the absence of the bongo drums that were in the first EP seems to not hurt the strength of the rhythm and drumming at all in the new material but rather make it more natural. With songs like The Lottery and If You Were Drowning…, it’s evident that The Midnight Renewal has really developed a catchy, dance-able sound that was captured in their previous album’s opener The New England Conference. While the last album had less substance to the guitar work, The North Main EP blows it away with tons of riffs and layers that really hit strong.
The album ends pretty abruptly. The last sound just slices right out and the song is done. Usually I expect a kind of delay or strong “this is the end of the album” feel to a final song, but instead The North Main EP leaves off like there is more to be expected. Whether intentional or not, it just makes me curious into how long it will be before a new album gets recorded. With such a powerful sound to open the album with Dear Actress, I think it would have fitted better to have that same kind of feel when it ended. Regardless, The North Main EP is solid the entire way through, and since I had the privilege to attend the album release show right when I received this album, I can attest that the entire EP translates to an incredible live sound.
TRACK LIST:
01. Dear Actress,
02. Calling All Cars
03. The Lottery
04. I’m Not Buying What You’re Selling
05. If You Were Drowning, I Would Throw You A Cinder Block