I managed to skip the music store last weekend, which was a minor victory for me. I’ve got a few too many albums of late (went a bit crazy on Bandcamp earlier in the year) and I need to spend more time listening and less time buying. Also, I need to be as discerning as possible in determining what is “shelf worthy” – hopefully before making a purchase.
An occasional failing which brings us to this next review.
Disc 1403 is…. Midnight
Artist: Grace Potter
Year of Release: 2015
What’s up with the Cover? Grace herself, looking intergalactically gorgeous against a backdrop of nebula dust and stars.
How I Came To Know It: I discovered Grace Potter through her 2019 album “Daylight” and dug backward from there. “Midnight” was the last of the three albums I found, when it finally turned up used at my local record shop.
How It Stacks Up: Of my three Grace Potter albums, I rank “Midnight” at #3. Hey, someone has to be last.
Ratings: 2 stars
“Midnight” is a solid album if you really like power pop, and if you buy it that’s what you should expect. It’s loaded with catchy anthems suitable for dancing or coke commercials, or even dancing in coke commercials. Those ones where lots of young people flip their hair around and there is some large, generic outdoor festival going on.
That came off unkind. There are plenty of songs that get coopted into soft drink and beer commercials. It doesn’t make the song bad. However, it does paint a picture of something that is very mainstream and acceptable to the masses. Again, this is fine (popular music is popular for a reason) but already owning and enjoying the records that came out before and after “Midnight”, I had higher expectations.
The record before this one was Potter’s last fronting her band, the Nocturnals. As she did there, on “Midnight” Potter plays a host of instruments. This includes a variety of guitar type things, piano type things and a bunch of other things too numerous to mention. Her main collaborator (and partner) Eric Valentine does more of the same, making the performance credits a torrent of talent. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything to highlight out of all this work. I never noticed anything exceptional on the playing, even though it is all competent and professional grade.
Valentine’s real talent is for production. The album sounds crisp and professional with all the right amount of thump and attention-drawing isolations to organs, bass riffs or hand claps as individual songs may demand. This is some slick work on that front.
As ever, Potter’s big contribution is on vocals, where she once again shows off her powerhouse range. She’s a pop artist at heart, but like any good one she can infuse just the right amount of growl to make the rock and roll believable. She belts out these tunes with enthusiasm.
That said, while the vocal range is there, the artistic range is lacking. On her follow-up, 2019’s “Daylight” (reviewed back at Disc 1365) Potter plays with the elements of other genres to keep all that pop music interesting. But on “Midnight” it is pretty much just a big glitz party; done well but without much to say.
Lyrically this album was a disappointment. The best of the bunch is “Your Girl” where the narrator decides she won’t pursue her love interest, out of respect for his current girlfriend, but even there things are pretty by the book. At its worst, we are given “Instigators” which is supposed to be edgy but feels more like how a Wall Street executive might right a protest song about himself. Here’s a verse, with my apologies for the share:
“United we stand, divided we fall
It’s time to cross over, shoulder to shoulder
Raise up your arms, come one come all
We’ve got to cross over
Shoulder to shoulder we’ll blow on the coals
In the cold of our souls as we’re crashing the hall.”
Lots of writing 101 internal rhyme action here, but as generic as imagery gets (note she couldn’t even be bothered to raise fists, just…arms). With all the accompanying “oh-oh-oh” chants it feels like the hall they’re crashing is just a nightclub. A night out dancing is good fun for sure, but even on that basis the song holds neither the edge nor the compelling imagery needed to make your blood pump.
Even so, this record is full of catchy tunes, that are easy to listen to. Even after many consecutive listens I didn’t get tired of these songs, and I didn’t get bored either. But I also wasn’t inspired. It’s the musical equivalent of a lot of tasty, but empty calories and I enjoyed it for the delicious and guilty pleasure it was. That said, it isn’t something I can see being part of my regular diet, and I’m going to send it to a home that will appreciate it more than I did.
Best tracks: Your Girl, Empty Heart
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