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Tracklisting
1. Cavalry
2. All On Our Own
3. Dead Flowers
4. The Letter
5. Learning To Fall
6. Benjamin
7. Tijuana
8. Golden Love
9. Lonely Homes
10. Flash
Midnight Youth’s debut album, 'The Brave Don’t Run,' is so good, I sent away to the other side of the world for it. After hearing one of the New Zealand rock band’s singles, 'All On Our Own,' I scoured the internet for any of their other songs. I just had to hear more of the catchy indie pop sound that I had fallen in love with so quickly. Unfortunately, it became clear that my only option was to order directly from the band’s site, so voila, 35 NZ dollars and a few weeks later, and one of my favorite CDs of the year arrived here in the United States.
Luckily for you, it’s now a little easier to hear Midnight Youth’s music. The Kiwis recently uploaded a handful of tracks onto Myspace, PureVolume and Youtube. And since most of you are probably from the U.K., it may be even easier to find the music in England, for all I know. Hopefully one day soon the CD will be in stores worldwide, but for now, we have to take what we can get. Trust me, the band’s songs are worth a little time spent surfing the internet.
'The Brave Don’t Run' is upbeat and loveable right from the opening track; 'The Cavalry' is a killer rocker that dares you not to jump around. And the songs only get better from there. The entire album is grandiose, from vocals to guitar solos to choruses chock full of gang vocals. Naming the stand out tracks is a struggle, simply because they’re all great. 'The Letter,' 'Benjamin,' and 'Flash,' are definitely worth a listen, but seriously, just listen to them all. The weakest bit is probably the acoustic and slightly sappy 'Golden Love,' but it’s still cute. And for every rock ‘n roller song like 'Tijuana,' there’s a slower ballad like 'Learning To Fall.' Sure, it’s poppy but it’s damn fun.
Midnight Youth is barely known in the rest of the world right now, but they’re mainstream in the land down under. And just because they’re Top 40 somewhere else does not mean they’re not worth a listen, so hang on, hipsters. They’ve won a bunch of awards from everyone from Myspace Music Choice to the Vodafone NZ Music Awards. They’ve toured with the likes of INXS, Incubus and OK Go, and they played a set at SXSW this year along with a few shows in New York and L.A. It’s really only a matter of time before they catch on in the rest of the world’s music scenes, so start paying attention now.
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