Album: Painting the Roses
Artist: Midnight Sister
Genre: #Alternative #Indie
Sub-Genres: #experimentalpop #neopsychadelic
Label: Jagjaguwar
Non-Airable Tracks: N/A
Description:
Trying to describe an album by Midnight Sister is like looking at a Jackson Pollack painting. The colors are so vibrant and illustrious, yet you can never really differentiate between the paint splatters, where one begins and one ends, ultimately accumulating into a frenzy of shapes and designs that you just accept as art. This is what listening to “Painting the Roses” ultimately feels like. With a title reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, the songs within the album feel just like that, a hazy dreamscape where you feel oh so comfortable yet the rug can be pulled out from under you with loud percussion, distorted vocals, and seductive strings. Songs such as “Sirens” and “Limousine” embody disco music at its finest with pulsing backbeats and catchy hooks which strays away from the traditional style of Midnight Sister’s past work. However, if you are yearning for songs similar to “Blue Cigar” and “Shimmy” I highly recommend “Doctor Says” and “Foxes.”
The thematic elements within this album are quite somber and cause the listener to reflect on past relationships and experiences they have had surrounding love and loss. Songs such as “Escalators," “Dearly Departed” and “Song for the Trees” are compelling especially while featuring complete tonal shifts throughout the song that flood the listener with emotions accompanied by overwhelmingly beautiful string melodies and heart-filled lyrics. The title track “Painting the Roses” has the theme of acceptance. Throughout the album, there is a loose storyline of being able to go through life enjoying youth without stopping to acknowledge and appreciate what one has such as a relationship or a person of an idol. By the final song, the listener can rest assured that indeed life goes on, and sometimes in order to move past a hurtful or damaging experience you simply have to paint the roses to cover up the grief one feels for something that is no longer there. Overall I highly recommend this album for anybody that is looking for instrumentals that are similar to those of the Beatles movie “Yellow Submarine” or any popular disco song from the 1970s. Regardless of one’s preference in stylistic vocals, the lyrics will surely have the listener appreciating what they have while being able to enjoy the life they are still privileged enough to live.
Sounds Like:
The Velveteins
LA Priest
Sonny and the Sunsets
Recommended Tracks:
Doctor Says
Sirens
Song for the Trees
Reviewer’s Name: Peyton Riegel
Date of Review: January 22, 2021