By Genevieve Presley
Columnist
It has been a great year for the newest pop sensation Midnight Til Morning. Since their formation on the Netflix series “Building The Band,” the four piece, consisting of Conor Smith, Mason Watts, Shane Appell and Zach Newbould have been hard at work to find a sound unlike any other that they can call their own. On October 8, Midnight Til Morning released their debut EP “Afterglow,” seven songs perfectly encapsulating who they are as a group, including their debut single “Bye” which quickly became a fan favorite.
When I first listened to “Afterglow,” I was speechless. I enjoyed getting to listen to the previously released tracks again, in addition to the three new ones. Among all the songs included in this remarkable EP, the ones that stood out to me the most were “Ghost of Us,” “Seventeen,” and “Edge of Amazing.”
“Ghost of Us” was originally released on August 5 as the band’s second single alongside “Bye” and has ranked as one of my top favorites ever since. It is a powerful, touching song about not wanting to let go of someone you love. The boys undoubtedly reeled me in with this one, tugging at my heartstrings with their strong vocals and lyrics such as “one phone call and I tell you I miss you,” and “it’s so hard to let you go.” It was in that moment when I felt in my heart that they were going to go far, and the EP definitely made me love the song way more than before.
In my opinion, “Seventeen” is one of the best songs the boys have ever written. The nostalgic, acoustic feel instantly drew me in and I especially enjoyed Mason and Conor’s vocals. I believe that this one perfectly showcases their songwriting abilities with meaningful lyrics like “now I’m bloodshot, been so lost since we said goodbye,” and “typical me it figures still caught up in yesterday.” There is so much depth and power in these lyrics and I cannot help but get completely lost in it.
When I heard “Edge of Amazing,” my first thought was that it is completely Midnight Til Morning, describing perfectly where they are right now as a band both musically and in terms of creativity. It is one of those songs that instantly hooks you, and I could never get tired of listening to it even if I tried.
On release day, “Afterglow” achieved 34,000 streams for the EP in total with “Bye” leading at 4,875,214 streams and “Seventeen” receiving the least at 235,757. This is most likely due to the fact that “Bye” has been out longer and gained instant popularity as their first single, but I predict that “Seventeen” will gain more streams in the coming weeks. The EP also charted at number 5 on the Australian Albums iTunes chart and number 29 on the German Albums chart.
In addition to the remarkably delightful songs, one of my favorite things about Midnight Til Morning is the way that they were formed. In “Building The Band,” bands are formed by placing each contestant in a separate sound booth, and they chose who they wanted to be in a band with based on personal likes.
In my opinion, this approach was extremely successful and it was fascinating to see the boys choose each other completely on their own terms and not anybody else’s. This captivating EP, which in every way exceeded my expectations, is only the beginning for Midnight Til Morning. I cannot wait to see what happens next.
Leave a Reply