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News

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29th October, 2024

Tour - The Midnight are announced as part of the lineup for the 2025 Tecate Pal Norte music festival in Monterrey, Mexico. The Midnight will perform on April 4, the first day of the festival.

18th October, 2024

Tour - The Chrome Nights North American Tour concludes in Denver.

4th October, 2024

Music - The Midnight's remix of Lost And Found by Chromeo is released. The remix is included on the deluxe edition of Chromeo's album Adult Contemporary.

1st October, 2024

Merch - The Midnight: Shadows graphic novel is released.

6th September, 2024

Music - Chariot is released as a single.

5th September, 2024

Tour - The Chrome Nights North American Tour begins in Vancouver.

15th July, 2024

Music - Days of Thunder was released 10 years ago on this day. Happy 10th anniversary to The Midnight!

18th June, 2024

Tour - A London show has been added to the Summer 2024 EU/UK Tour. The show will be at Electric Ballroom on July 22.

Archived news

Lost Boy's Polaroids

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Did You Know?

• ...that Tim McEwan is originally from Copenhagen, Denmark?
• ...that an early version of Jason used the backing track from what would become The Equaliser (Not Alone)?
• ...that WeMoveForward was the first song written by the band?
• ...that Dance With Somebody was once in a different key and had a guitar solo instead of a sax solo?
• ...that touring member Lelia Broussard was on the US version of singing competition The Voice?
• ...that Lost & Found was originally released on the Tyler Lyle album The Native Genius of Desert Plants?
• ...that Golden Gate, Souvenir and Brooklyn were originally solo Tyler Lyle songs from his album The Floating Years?
• ...that for five years Comet was nothing more than a small snippet on Facebook before finally being released in 2021?
• ...that The Midnight's first live show outside of California was in Chicago?
• ...that Tim McEwan's brother Oliver is also a musician, but their parents are actors?

From The Floppy Disk

Tyler Lyle

Lyle in 2022

Tyler Lyle
Lyle performing live with The Midnight in 2022
Background information
Birth name	Jamison Tyler Lyle
Born	(1985-12-01) December 1, 1985 Carrollton, Georgia, U.S.
Genres	Folk Americana World Country
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter record producer
Instrument(s)	Vocals guitar
Years active	2007–present
Member of	The Midnight Smith, Lyle, and Moore
Website	tylerlyle.com

Jamison Tyler Lyle (born December 1, 1985) is an American musician who is the primary guitarist, vocalist, and lyricist for The Midnight.

Born and raised in rural Georgia, Lyle began his career in music as a young adult and became regionally known after winning a songwriting contest in 2010. This led to the self-release of his debut album, gaining him national exposure, and he also began writing for other artists.

Lyle moved to Los Angeles in 2011, and in 2012 his A&R representative arranged for him to meet Danish producer Tim McEwan for a songwriting session. The two had an instant connection and began making music. Lyle and McEwan became a duo known as The Midnight and self-released their first extended play (EP) in 2014 and have continuously released new music since.

Outside of The Midnight, Lyle continues to release solo work and regularly tours around the United States. In 2016, he began a semi-regular podcast titled From The Secret Lair that includes music and self-commentary. He is married and has one child.

Early life

Lyle was born and raised in Carrollton, Georgia, the son of Mark and Deborah Lyle. His father is also a musician and is the house-guitarist for the George Britt Band, who plays at the Lowell Opry House in Carrollton.

Lyle was frequently around music growing up, being exposed to the musical genres of Country, Gospel, Bluegrass, and Classic rock. His dad was the music minister at the family's church, and he grew up singing in the choir. After initially having no interest in a music career as a child, Lyle began playing the guitar in high school, learning tabs from his father and online.

Lyle attended college at Asbury University in Kentucky for one year before transferring to Georgia State University, earning a degree in philosophy in 2008. After college, he used some money from a student loan to move to Prague and got certified to teach English as a foreign language. He then relocated to Paris and began attending Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University to satisfy the requirements for his student visa. When he wasn't working as a teacher or taking classes, Lyle performed at various bars and pubs around the city and began writing more music. He later returned to Georgia in 2009 to begin a music career. To support himself, he worked a variety of odd jobs including roofing, landscaping, food delivery, and advertising.

Career

Beginnings as a solo musician

Lyle performing at home in 2010

Lyle self-released his first album in 2007 and later released an EP in 2009. He would gain larger exposure in June 2010 after winning the Open Mic Shootout at the music club Eddie's Attic in Decatur, Georgia. Previous winners of the contest include John Mayer, Clay Cook, and Jennifer Nettles. Lyle performed four original songs at the event: Closer to Me, Pretty Lady, Nashville, and The Secret. He used the $1000 cash prize from the contest to fund the creation of the album The Golden Age & The Silver Girl, which released the following year in July. The entire album was recorded in just one day and it was later recognized by NPR World Café as one of the top albums of 2011.

Right after he finished making his debut album, Lyle moved to California to be closer to a new manager he had started working with, and he later signed a publishing deal with Pulse Recordings. He lived in an old house in Laurel Canyon that once belonged to Fleetwood Mac member Christine McVie before moving to an apartment by the beach in Santa Monica with a roommate from college. Lyle continued self-releasing music throughout 2012 and 2013, and in 2013 he was the recipient of the Harald Adamson Lyric Award for pop music from the ASCAP Foundation. During this time, he continued making occasional appearances at Eddie's Attic and toured throughout the country with other musicians, additionally playing shows at several music festivals including SXSW, Noise Pop, and MusicfestNW.

Lyle has said that his musical influences include Paul Simon, Garth Brooks, and his father Mark.

The Midnight

Lyle performing live with The Midnight

In 2012, Lyle met Tim McEwan at a songwriter’s workshop in North Hollywood arranged by his A&R representative Katie Donovan. Bonding over a mutual love of 80's rock, they began writing songs together and at McEwan’s suggestion based their sound on 80’s synth. The first song they wrote was WeMoveForward, and their first release as a duo under The Midnight moniker came in July 2014 with the extended play Days of Thunder. Lyle serves as the band's primary vocalist and guitarist is credited with writing the majority of the band’s lyrics. He has been the main vocalist in every The Midnight song containing vocals except for Synthetic and Comet, which were sung by McEwan. Many of The Midnight's songs have their roots in songs originally written and released by Lyle on one of his albums or his podcast, From The Secret Lair.

Regarding his approach to writing for The Midnight, Lyle has said:

I write The Midnight lyrically (mostly) as the fantasy that I never experienced. I lean a bit utopian sometimes and let the images get grander than I experienced. I was on the debate team. I had a lisp. I was really into Syphon Filter. The fun is in the make believe.

I write everyday. Some of it goes in The Midnight folder. Some of it goes off into far far away places. It works best when Tim has a cool musical skeleton and I have a cool lyrical skeleton we can smush together and build together.

Continued solo work and other ventures

Lyle performing at a solo show

Outside of The Midnight, Lyle continues to record and tour as a solo artist. Most recently, he embarked on a four show tour in the US in 2022 and his latest album, The Transcendentalists Part One, was released in June 2023. Not long after his move to Los Angeles, Lyle formed with Andrew Smith and Jack Moore the group Smith, Lyle, and Moore, whose first EP was released in August 2020. In 2012, he co-wrote two songs for Court Yard Hounds that appeared on their album Amelita. His songs have been heard on the US television shows Hart of Dixie, Private Practice, and Gossip Girl.

In January 2016, he began a monthly podcast titled From The Secret Lair. Each episode generally consists of around three to six songs accompanied with commentary by Lyle. The discussions touch on several topics, including his methods as a musician, sources of inspiration, philosophy, literature, and his southern upbringing. The first season featured 23 episodes that were recorded from his apartment in Brooklyn, New York. The second season began in November 2020 and ran for eight episodes, with production moved to his home studio in Atlanta, Georgia. The third season began in April 2023 and had nine episodes.

Personal life

Outside of music, Lyle's interests include books, Tarot card reading, philosophy, and bourbon/whiskey. In September 2014, he married Anna Jimenez. Jimenez contributed backing vocals to The Midnight's song Los Angeles. Previously residing in Southern California and New York City, the Lyles now live in Atlanta, Georgia with their son, Beau.

References

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External links

• Official website
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Bandcamp

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Dance With Somebody

"Dance With Somebody"
Single by The Midnight
from the album Monsters
Released	June 10, 2020 (2020-06-10)
Length	4:17
Label	Counter Records
Songwriter(s)	Tim McEwan Tyler Lyle
Producer(s)	Tim McEwan
Monsters track listing
Monsters "1991 (intro)" "America Online" "Dance With Somebody" "Seventeen" "Dream Away" "The Search for Ecco" "Prom Night" "Fire In The Sky" "Monsters" "Helvetica" "Brooklyn" "Deep Blue" "Night Skies" "City Dreams (interlude)" "Last Train"
The Midnight singles chronology
Deep Blue (2020) Dance With Somebody (2020) Prom Night (2020)

Dance With Somebody is a song by The Midnight. It is the third single and third track from their album Monsters. The single was released on June 10, 2020.

The song was written by band members Tim McEwan and Tyler Lyle and produced by McEwan. The synth bass on Dance With Somebody was performed by Oliver McEwan and the saxophone was played by Thomas Edinger. It has a running time of four minutes and 17 seconds and is in the key of A-flat major.

Tyler Lyle said about the song:

’Dance With Somebody’ is essentially telling the shy kid in the back of the class not to put up too many barriers and to take off your armor. Sometimes it’s Friday night and you just can’t help it, you have to go dancing.

In an interview with Magnetic Magazine, the band said about Dance With Somebody:

Tim: We had the hook sitting around for a long time but the verses were so hard to crack. It took us many re-writes to get it right. From a production standpoint I wanted this one to be a bop that you could throw on while getting ready to go out but while still having a deeper meaning behind it.

Tyler: This was tricky. We re-wrote the verses to this at least four or five times. We knew what the hook was, and we knew we wanted the narrator to give a kind of invocation to lose yourself to the music. We carry so much armor around. I never thought much about dancing until I went to a religious college that forbade it. When I escaped that place (I only lasted a year), I decided to dance at every opportunity. Sometimes the only way out of your head is to get into your feet.

The Dance With Somebody poster seen in the single artwork is a slight variation of the poster for the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing. The faint caption below the title Dance with Somebody says "Some dance partners need a dance partner too...", a reference to a lyric in the song. Next to the poster is a taped note that says "Life's too short to dance by yourself ♥", which is another lyric reference.

Demo version

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An early demo of Dance With Somebody was released as a prize during the Fall 2020 ARG. Titled Dance with Somebody v5 GUIDE VOX (60%), it is considerably different from the final version. The demo is slower, has different instrumentation in some parts, is in a different key (B-flat major), has a different lyrical structure, and the vocals are sung a little differently in some parts. The second verse is missing and there are some other small variations in the lyrics. The demo has a guitar solo instead of a saxophone solo.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tim McEwan and Tyler Lyle.

Dance With Somebody

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Dance With Somebody"	4:17
2.	"Deep Blue"	3:57
3.	"America Online"	5:49
Total length:		14:03

Lyrics

Take off your armor
Friend of mine
I have no arrows
But I got time

All your sorrows
Keeps you glued to your seat
Can we get you you outta your head
Into your feet

It’s not that the rest of us
Don’t have the blues
It’s just that some dance partners need a dance
Partner too
Is that you

Life’s too short to dance by yourself
Think you should dance with somebody
Life’s too short to dance by yourself
Think you should dance with somebody

Take off your armor
Let down your hair
You could sit on your hands or
You could get closer if you dare

And it’s not that the rest of us don’t have to fight
For every bit of love for and every bit of light
But tonight
It’s Friday night

Life’s too short to dance by yourself
Think you should dance with somebody
Life’s too short to dance by yourself
Think you should dance with somebody

Lyrics source

Official versions

Dance With Somebody

from Monsters

Dance With Somebody (Instrumental)

from Monsters (The Instrumentals)

References

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Click the heading above to read more!

Days of Thunder

This template is about the EP. For the song, see Days of Thunder (song).

Days of Thunder
EP by The Midnight
Released	July 15, 2014
Genre	Synthwave
Length	37:18
Label	The Midnight Music
Producer	Tim McEwan
The Midnight chronology
Days of Thunder (2014) Endless Summer (2016)
Alternative cover
Original album cover

Days of Thunder is the debut extended play (EP) by The Midnight. It was released independently by the band on July 15, 2014.

No singles from Days of Thunder were released prior to the EP's release, but in 2016 electronic music label Silk Music issued remix singles for the songs WeMoveForward and Days of Thunder. The singles included the original songs and remixes that would later appear on the 2017 remix album The Midnight Remixed.

Background and composition

Tim McEwan and Tyler Lyle met in 2012 at a songwriter's workshop in North Hollywood organized by Katie Donovan, Lyle’s A&R representative at the time. Prior to meeting, McEwan had listened to some of Lyle’s previous work and liked Lyle’s folk sound. They bonded over a mutual love of 80s rock and after initially struggling to define their sound, decided to enter the synthwave genre at the suggestion of McEwan. McEwan had prior exposure to the burgeoning synthwave genre and was inspired by the movie Drive. The first song they wrote as a duo was WeMoveForward, and the same day they also wrote the chorus for Gloria. Over the next two years, they continued writing and recording songs, leading to the release of Days of Thunder. Prior to the release of the EP, several songs that were being worked on by McEwan (who was known as iAmData at the time) and Lyle were previewed on McEwan's Soundcloud account, including WeMoveForward, Gloria, Synthetic, and Comet. While WeMoveForward and Gloria made the Days of Thunder tracklist, Synthetic was held back for the next The Midnight release, Endless Summer. Comet would not get released until 2021 as part of the 5 Year Anniversary edition of Endless Summer.

The EP was not promoted with any singles but still managed to make a modest impact upon release. At the time, the synthwave genre of music was still emerging and in the early stages of gaining traction. Days of Thunder was given positive reviews on the websites DRIVE Radio and NewRetroWave, and also caught the attention of several Reddit communities throughout 2014 and 2015. When The Midnight's first album Endless Summer was released in 2016, synthwave and its online communities were much more established, drawing many new listeners to Days of Thunder. Gloria, Days of Thunder, and Los Angeles became popular songs of the genre and continue to be regularly performed by the band at live shows.

Music and lyrics

The primary themes explored by The Midnight on Days of Thunder are escapism, love, isolation, existentialism, and nostalgia, particularly when looked at through the lens of city life.

The EP begins with The Years (prologue), a slow moving tribute to Lyle's wife Anna, whom he met after moving to Los Angeles in the early 2010s. The inclusion of "prologue" in the song title indicates it as being not only a precursor to the other songs on the EP but also establishing the relationship of Lyle and Anna as preceding The Midnight's formation. The main synth riff slowly crescendos as the song progresses to include drums, guitar, and a chanting vocal. The final lyric in the song, "aimless and upward", is a recurring motif in Lyle's solo work and unifies his musical background with the production style of McEwan.

Gloria increases the tempo and octane of the EP with pulsing synth stabs and heavy guitar riffs, with lyrics expressing a near existentialist cry for help. The song leans heavily into the the themes of isolation and escapism, trademarks of the synthwave genre. WeMoveForward has a significantly more progressive house feel and recounts a tale of love discovered at the beach. Proclaiming "we move forward, because we can't go back", the song emphasizes the ideal of living life in the present and taking chances.

Beginning with the sound of a car engine starting, the title track evokes high speed chases from 80s action films with strong synth patterns, loud percussion, and distinctive saxophone riffs, which would become a trademark of The Midnight's sound. Discussing the dark side of love, Days of Thunder also explores the idea of feeling alone in a big city, describing "the ghosts of the boulevard" as "living with lonely hearts". Kick Drums & Red Wine, another synth driven song, explores the ways people search for answers in life by pretending to be something they're not, with the narrator choosing to find relief through authenticity and "kick drums and red wine".

The EP concludes with Los Angeles, an ode to the birthplace of The Midnight written by Lyle upon moving from Los Angeles to New York City. The moderately paced song has a more sparse production compared to the previous songs on the EP, recounting memories shared at various places including the beach, Sunset Boulevard, and the canyons and mountains of Los Angeles. Often regarded as one of The Midnight's signature songs, Los Angeles ties together the EP's themes and the band's mantra of mono no aware with Lyle declaring, "if we live forever let us live forever tonight".

Official description

The Days of Thunder

There is a Japanese term: Mono no aware. It means basically, the sad beauty of seeing time pass - the aching awareness of impermanence. These are the days that we will return to one day in the future only in memories. How do we capture them? How could we possibly be able to fully appreciate them in the present? This project is our attempt to put time under glass.

The Midnight is a marriage between a songwriter from the Deep South and a producer from Denmark who both live in Los Angeles. The songs were written in North Hollywood and Santa Monica over two years and represent the first fruit of The Midnight. This is our love song to our city and a testament to the weight these years can hold.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tim McEwan and Tyler Lyle.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Years (prologue)"	6:08
2.	"Gloria"	4:49
3.	"WeMoveForward"	8:07
4.	"Days of Thunder"	5:24
5.	"Kick Drums & Red Wine"	6:21
6.	"Los Angeles"	6:29
Total length:		37:18

Release history and variants

Digital release history for Days of Thunder

Date	Edition
July 15, 2014	Standard
Artwork was changed to current revision in February 2016 due to potential copyright issues with the original image. The artwork it was changed to was first used for the release of Lost & Found (The Midnight Remix).
March 20, 2016	Instrumentals
The instrumentals were originally uploaded to Soundcloud in June 2015 prior to getting an official release on Bandcamp and streaming services.
May 7, 2021	Stems
Contains the six songs from the EP denoted with BPMs plus 94 stem parts comprising all songs. The stems are not royalty free but projects and remixes made with them are allowed to be used on non-monetized platforms.

Physical release history for Days of Thunder

Year	Format	Color/Design
2018	Cassette	White
First tape variant. Was first offered for sale at the Spring 2018 shows with the remaining stock being sold online.
2018	Cassette	Transparent Red
Second tape variant.
2018	LP	Transparent Red
First vinyl variant. The EP was remastered for this release. Lost & Found is included as a bonus track. Preorders began in June 2018 and were shipped in September.
2022	CD	-
Lost & Found is erroneously included on the printed tracklist. A download link to the song is sent when purchasing the CD.
2022	LP	Blue Swirl
Second vinyl variant. Lost & Found is included as a bonus track.
2024	LP	Evil Dead
Third vinyl variant. Lost & Found is included as a bonus track.

References

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Click the heading above to read more!