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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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1991 (intro)

"1991 (intro)"
Song by The Midnight
from the album Monsters
Released	July 10, 2020 (2020-07-10)
Length	0:27
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"

1991 (intro) is a song by The Midnight. It is the first track from their album Monsters.

It is a short intro with a length of 27 seconds that serves as a lead-in to the second track, America Online. Heard is the sound of a computer starting up, followed by someone typing, then the sound of a dial-up connection being used to access the Internet. The title is a reference to the year 1991, which is when the very first webpage went live on the internet.

References

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Monsters

This template is about the album. For the song, see Monsters (song).

Monsters
Album by The Midnight
Released	July 10, 2020
Genre	Synthwave Electronic World Lo-fi Vaporwave
Length	57:56
Label	Counter Records
Producer	Tim McEwan
The Midnight chronology
The Midnight Remixed 02 (2019) Monsters (2020) Horror Show (2020)
Singles from Monsters
"America Online" Released: May 3, 2019 "Deep Blue" Released: May 6, 2020 "Dance With Somebody" Released: June 10, 2020 "Prom Night" Released: June 24, 2020

Monsters is the fourth album by The Midnight. It was released through the label Counter Records on July 10, 2020.

Monsters was preceded by the release of four singles: America Online, Deep Blue, Dance With Somebody, and Prom Night.

Background and composition

The Midnight's previous album Kids was originally planned to be a larger release with more songs compared to the final product. It was later stated that its production was scaled back so Tyler Lyle would have more time to spend with his newborn child. With the band having a lot of leftover ideas from the making of Kids, they decided to expand upon its themes and began work on a follow-up album as part of a planned trilogy.

Some of the prizes given during the Fall 2020 ARG have revealed details about the development of Monsters. It had a working title of Kids 2 and several early demos of songs that appeared on Monsters were also shared. A snippet of America Online was shared on the band's social media in April 2018, predating the release of Kids. An early instrumental snippet of the song Monsters included in the ARG prizes is named "Monsters (early instrumental demo for KIDS)", indicating that it was also initially planned to be included on Kids.

In February 2019, it was mentioned on the band's social media that new songs were being recorded in Atlanta (the home of Lyle). On March 20, a no-captioned photo of an America Online startup screen was posted, the first official mention of the song since the April 2018 snippet. On March 25, a new clip of America Online containing vocals was shared. On April 5, a photo showing an America Online branded floppy disk with a caption of "New single dropping soon" was posted. A tiny portion of the single artwork was shared on April 18, followed by another small portion on April 29, with a release date of May 3 being announced. The next day, the single was officially confirmed to be America Online. The full single artwork was revealed on May 2. The artwork showed a computer with an AIM-esque chat interface, along with a desktop showing a file called "Monsters.zip", which would later turn out to be the name of the album. On May 6, the band's Twitter account posted the single artwork and stated that the font used in it was the name of a track from the upcoming album. A June 4 post showed an old System 7 interface with a text editor open and the font Helvetica selected, confirming the aforementioned song's name.

Further sharing of information about the next album was infrequent for the remainder of 2019, largely due to the band's ongoing tour. During the tour, a few songs confirmed by the band to be on the pending album were performed, including Seventeen, Monsters, and Brooklyn. The band shared in October that the next album would have a song "that feels like the spiritual successor to Lost Boy", and also stated in December that the album has "taken a lot of inspiration from world music."

In January 2020, the band said that "there may or may not be an homage to Ecco the Dolphin on our upcoming album." It was mentioned in February that the new album would have pan flute and saxophone, and it was also confirmed for a 2020 release. On April 24, a new snippet of the next single cover was posted on social media. On April 27, the single was confirmed to be Deep Blue with a release date of May 6. A short instrumental clip of the song was included in the post. The full single artwork was revealed on May 3. On May 6, the release of Deep Blue was accompanied by the announcing of Monsters as the next The Midnight album, with a planned release date of July 10. The artwork and tracklist were also revealed.

On May 29, Dance With Somebody was announced as the third single from Monsters alongside a short snippet of the song and a release date of June 3. However, The Midnight announced on June 1 that the single's release would be delayed a week to June 10, with the postponement being done in solidarity with racial justice protests happening at the time in the US. Prom Night was revealed to be the album's fourth and final single on June 18, with a short snippet and a release date of June 24 being shared.

Monsters promotional poster

Monsters was officially released on July 10, 2020. Receiving mostly positive reviews, critics noted that the album moved the band's sound in a different direction and expanded its horizons, breaking the traditional mold of the synthwave genre. The album was also the biggest commercial success to date for The Midnight, charting at number 134 on the Billboard 200, number 12 on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart, and number 18 on the Independent Albums chart.

According to Tyler Lyle, a few that songs were written or sketched during the creation of Kids were held over for Monsters. He also noted that the production of Monsters took longer than previous releases due to the band's tour schedule. Monsters was released with fifteen tracks, the largest number to date on a The Midnight release. The title track is a collaboration with Jupiter Winter, a music duo consisting of Lelia Broussard and Royce Whittaker. Broussard co-wrote the track and sings vocals on the second verse. She had previously joined the band as a guitarist and backup vocalist during the Fall 2019 Tour. Broussard and Whittaker would both join The Midnight for the concert special The Midnight Online. Brooklyn, the album's eleventh track, was originally a solo song by Lyle from his album The Floating Years.

A continuation of Kids, the album explores the trials and tribulations of growing up as a teenager and young adult. McEwan noted that the songs on Monsters "range from calm to sad to aggressive, and reflect[s] some of the internal struggles of adolescence." When asked about the significance of 1991, McEwan opined: "The KIDS have grown up. They're teens now. And 1991 was the year the internet went live. Hence the modem sound and opening the album with America Online." Lyle has described Monsters as "an examination of the half in darkness, half in lightness war of individualization through adolescence." During an interview with Icon Vs. Icon, he said about the album:

We wanted MONSTERS to be about adolescence, where the adult world starts knocking on your door and you have to face questions about intimacy, closeness and alienation. It’s a continuation of KIDS in a lot of ways. We wrote a lot of songs for it and hopefully we have a lot of songs for the next record as well to complete the arc. This collection we really felt spoke to the theme of connection.

Monsters has been noted for having a new and different overall sound compared to previous releases by The Midnight. Tim McEwan said a goal with Monsters was to "broaden the palette a bit and sonically evolve the sound of not just us but what is allowed in synthwave and question what is synthwave" and also to not be "encumbered by rules of a genre." McEwan elaborated further stating "I think there's a tendency with all genres to be bubbled into this chamber of one specific genre, and I felt it was important for us to move forward and to have the ability to move freely." Tyler Lyle said with regards to Monsters that McEwan "is evolving the sound a little bit more" and that "We’re opening the palette a little bit more — in some ways becoming a little bit more acoustic and in other ways becoming more dance-focused in different areas.” During a fan question-and-answer session on Twitter prior to the release of Monsters, he mentioned that he "wrote about 250 songs between 2016-2019" and "20 something of those songs got properly demoed/ realistically considered for Monsters."

McEwan stated that he took inspiration from various genres including soft rock, lo-fi, hip-hop, and trance. Influences of vaporwave can also be heard on tracks like America Online and City Dreams (interlude). The song Dream Away is mentioned by McEwan as being a "homage to the 90s wave of world influenced electronic music like Deep Forest and Engima." Lyle said that his work on Monsters was inspired by a string of Bruce Springsteen albums from the late 1970s to early 1980s, with the song Prom Night regarded as "an openhearted nod to Springsteen's gift as a dark and complicated writer who could also write a full throated pop song without those two words seeming to contradict." Lyle's vocals are supplemented with vocoder effects on the songs Monsters, Fire In The Sky, America Online, Deep Blue, and Night Skies, with the effect heard on Fire In The Sky actually being McEwan's voice.

Singles

America Online
May 13, 2019

Deep Blue
May 6, 2020

Dance With Somebody
June 10, 2020

Prom Night
June 24, 2020

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tim McEwan and Tyler Lyle except where noted.

Monsters

No.	Title	Length
1.	"1991 (intro)"	0:27
2.	"America Online"	5:49
3.	"Dance With Somebody"	4:17
4.	"Seventeen"	4:02
5.	"Dream Away"	3:39
6.	"The Search for Ecco"	4:04
7.	"Prom Night"	5:02
8.	"Fire In The Sky" (Lyle, McEwan and Collin McLoughlin)	4:09
9.	"Monsters (feat. Jupiter Winter)" (Lyle, McEwan and Leila Broussard)	3:17
10.	"Helvetica"	5:16
11.	"Brooklyn"	4:14
12.	"Deep Blue"	3:57
13.	"Night Skies"	3:04
14.	"City Dreams (interlude)"	2:17
15.	"Last Train"	4:22
Total length:		57:56

Additional instrumentation was provided by Thomas Edinger (saxophone on Dance With Somebody), Oliver McEwan (synth bass on Dance With Somebody, Bass & fretless bass on Brooklyn), Daniel Heløy Davidsen (Lead guitar solo on Seventeen), Izzy Fontaine (additional guitar and guitar solo on Brooklyn, guitar on Prom Night & Last Train), and Jesse Molloy (saxophone on Deep Blue). The album was mixed by Tim McEwan and mastered by Emily Lazar and Chris Allgood at The Lodge in New York, NY. Songs were recorded in Los Angeles, CA, Atlanta, GA, and the back of a tour bus all over the world.

Artwork and layout by Aaron Campbell.

Release history and variants

Digital release history for Monsters

Date	Edition
July 10, 2020	Standard
-
October 8, 2020	Instrumentals
Unlike previous instrumental releases, songs that were already instrumental on the original album are included as well.
April 2, 2021	Stems
Contains the 15 songs from the album denoted with BPMs plus 278 stem parts comprising all songs except for 1991 (intro) and Helvetica. The stems are not royalty free but projects and remixes made with them are allowed to be used on non-monetized platforms. First The Midnight EP/album to get a full stems release, which was done for The Midnight Remix Radio Vol. 2 remix contest.

Physical release history for Monsters

Year	Format	Color/Design
2020	Cassette	Translucent Purple
First tape variant.
2020	CD	-
-
2020	LP	Purple Swirl
First vinyl variant. First pressing was plagued with issues, with some listeners experiencing warbly playback, skipping, and various other problems, which misaligned holes on the vinyl might have caused. Those who ordered the first pressing were sent an email offering a no-cost replacement. This variant received another pressing in August 2024 in the US.
2021	Cassette	Transparent Purple/Transparent Orange
Second tape variant. First double cassette release of a The Midnight EP/album, with the second tape containing the instrumentals.
2021	LP	Purple Splatter
Second vinyl variant. This variant received another pressing in August 2024 in the UK.

References

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