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 This Midnight Stream |
Like moving through a gallery of short films, This Midnight Stream's debut CD "Cinematic"
will give you the price of admission. Moving through Cinematic, you'll notice each work stands
on its own as a mini-vignette and yet wraps into the whole, to produce a vision larger than the summed parts. |
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"This Midnight Stream create southern goth-darkwave music that is both enchanting and moving." - Luna, Delirium |
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"The musicianship and production is never anything
less than top notch.....Edwards and Earls are both exceptionally
talented artists." - Kevin Filan, Starvox |
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"The band name is instructive- this is 'dark wave' stuff,
the last dance in purgatory." - Bob Oermann, Music Row Magazine |
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"Cinematic, features dark, rhythmic music with an
electric guitar sheen." - Noel Murray, Nashville Scene |
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"Carole Edwards and Robb Earls manage to
incorporate a lush, accessible sound,
mixing inventive arrangements and
instrumentation with their distinctive voices" - Clay Steakley, The Rage |
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"Their music is filled with images and textures of all
that is dark and dreamy in the world." - Drew Walen, The City Paper |
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"Pleasant dark pop, heartfelt and smooth." -Columbine, The Sentimentalist |
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"The soundscapes swirl all around to create
a lush dreamlike atmosphere." - Julie Johnson, Grave Concerns |
| This Midnight Stream Cinematic Delirium E-zine -reviewed by Luna The Nashville based duo that make up the band This Midnight Stream create southern goth-darkwave music that is both enchanting and moving. The duo comprised of Carole Edwards and Robb Earls offer up mindbending and charming eloquence with the tracks featured on their debut album, Cinematic. Carole's vocals can be compared to a goth Jane Siberry and Robb has a very velvet-like smooth tone ala The Wake, Nosferatu, NIN, evident on the song, "Black And Blue." The instrumentation is never dull and captures the lush textures from the imagery their songs conjure. Guest musicians are used on some of the tracks and the incorporation of various instruments ranging from violins, tabla and tamboura enhance the keyboards, guitars and programming. The song "Midnight Stream" is so enticing and melancholic that is just draws you into their world. Their dynamic vocal styles shine through on the track "Down To The Bone." The haunting ethereal song "Head" is one I keep listening to over and over again. If you like bands like The Shroud, Sunshine Blind, Enigma, The Wake, Nosferatu, Switchblade Sysmphony, Faith and the Muse, you will love this band. The album contains ten songs plus their own rendition of Bauhaus' "She's In Parties." Top |
| This Midnight Stream "Cinematic" STARVOX E-ZINE -reviewed by Kevin Filan Best known as America's country music capital, Nashville is also home to darkwave duo Carole Edwards and Robb Earls, a/k/a This Midnight Stream. Their CD "Cinematic" combines the slick sound of darkwave pop with heartfelt lyrics that wouldn't be out of place on an alt.country album and vocals straight out of a Projekt sampler. The end result is accessible but complex enough to bear repeated listenings, and the musicianship and production is never anything less than top notch. "Cinematic" is definitely the product of two talented musicians with unique and frequently divergent visions. Edwards' ethereal vocalising provides the underpinning for "Midnight Stream" and "The Way Inside," and shows she is as skilled at providing background as lead vocals; in the uncharacteristically upbeat "Dream Love," she even shows a talent for shiny happy 80s synthpop. I was most impressed by songs like "Esther" and "Fallen Angel," where she paints bleak pictures of alienation and despair among America's substance-abusing class. The narrator of "Fallen Angel," who "[sits] here with this bottle late... All around my twisted fate/mocking me I can't see straight... Oh momma say a prayer" could be the hero of any Hank Williams (SENIOR, thankyouverymuch) song, as could the young Black protagonist of "Esther." The sound is Darkwave pop -- there are synthesizers and drum machines, not steel guitars and cheesy string sections -- but the sentiment is genuine. It's a welcome change: far too much Darkwave is about as emotionally involving as an Andy Warhol exhibition. Robb Earls' is technically quite an adept singer, but I found his vocal stylings sometimes at odds with the instrumental backgrounds. His Reznor-esque muttered/sung/growled vocals on "Black and Blue" and "Where Does the Time Go" were too precise, and the production too clean and smooth, to capture that Industrial angst-and-rage. His duet with Edwards on the Bauhuas track "She's In Parties" is more successful, as is his baritone crooning on "Midnight Stream" and "Down to the Bone." But I found that his instrumental and studio skills were the real standout. He provides a gorgeous lead guitar line on "The Way Inside," and glossy, crystal-clear production throughout this disc. The dynamic tension between two talented artists can result in a sum that is greater than the parts: Lennon and McCartney come to mind immediately. Edwards and Earls are both exceptionally talented artists. This is a promising debut which shows there's more to Nashville than the Grand Ole Opry. Southern Gothic never sounded so good. Top |
| This Midnight Stream Cinematic (CD) Sound Vortex Recordings GRAVE CONCERNS E-ZINE -reviewed by Julie Johnson 4/18/02 If you're looking for variety between gothic, folk and ethereal tones you may find This Midnight Stream something you might like. There are 11 tracks on this album that will leave you with something different. The band has 1 cover of Bauhaus' "She's in Parties" to give the CD added gothic flavor. The rest of the tracks are original. The last track is quite different from any of the other tracks. It is like, where did this dance remix come from? It is hard, but at the same time remains easy to listen to. The remix of "Midnight Stream" (Dorsey dance Version) crosses genres and adds a little bit of industrial and ambient to the mix. With this song you can see that the band can expand upon their music. I also liked the mix of male and female vocals. The male vocals were dark and gave out new meanings to the songs with his vocal styling. "The Way Inside" is a darker song with electric guitar that is used to enhance the soundscapes in the background. This song opens up after the main intro with a trip-hop feel with the programming. The guitars welt out to give the song a more rock feel. The vocals are mixed with the male and female. The male vocals seem to be distorted, and given a touch of angst. "Esther" has the feel of the folk, with light beats, and electric guitar that creates a world beat and atmosphere. "Down To The Bone" has a mix of folk, and rock with the male vocals in control. The female vocals are added as well, to bring more of the folk songs. "Dreamlove" kicks back into the more trip-hop and ambient feel. "Head" is another dark song, with a good mix of vocals, and guitars that create a dark soundscape. This is one of the more edgy songs, but still remains with the tone of the record. "Where Does The Time Go" is the darkest song, and has the angst driven vocals with a gothic feel. The beats are more slow, and create the darker mood, and could leave you in a trance like state. The soundscapes swirl all around to create a lush dreamlike atmosphere as well. Top |
| This Midnight Stream/Midnight Stream (dance mix) MUSIC ROW Nashville's Music Industry Publication -reviewed by Robert K. Oermann Writer: R. Earls; Producer: Robb Earls/Tommy Dorsey; Publisher: Factual, BMI; Sound Vortex (track) (www.soundvortex.com) Singer Carole Edwards and longtime Music City pop-rocker Robb Earls (Factual, Warm Dark Pocket, Big Bong Theory) have teamed up in a cool new electro outfit called This Midnight Stream. The band name is instructive- this is "dark wave" stuff, the last dance at the rave in purgatory. Top |
| Meeting of Minds Producer/studio owner debuts new collaborative project This Midnight Stream Cinematic (Sound Vortex Recording) Playing Oct. 19 at The End NASHVILLE SCENE -reviewed by Noel Murray Robb Earls has been active in the Nashville music business for more than 20 years, as a perform, as a producer, and as owner of Sound Vortex recording studio. In the latter two guises, he has been so busy for so long that he hasn't had much chance to pursue his own projects. When he met singer-writer Carole Edwards, he heard in her songs a chance to follow a trail that he had been forging in his own writing. The two began working together as This Midnight Stream, chasing together the sort of ethereal, danceable rock that Earls had previously played with his bands Factual and Warm Dark Pocket. Of Edwards, Earls says, "She can create an aura and a mood with her voice. I thought there as something there that we needed to check out, so we started writing together. We discovered a synergy. I like music that's cutting-edge in some way. Her orientation is more folkish, similar to Join Mitchell and Emmylou Harris in her lyrical and emotional approaches. This band has a variety of styles that I feel are tied together. What we collectively is better than either one of us could've done by ourselves." Earls has roots in the origins of Nashville alternative rock, having recorded the semi-legendary local new wave outfit Cloverbottom way back in 1979. He set up his own shop in the mid-80s and has been a full-time producer for 12 years, doing 90 percent of his work at his Sound Vortex studio. It hasn't been an easy road, thanks to the glut of studios that opened here during the country boom, and then the ensuing downward spiral in country sales-- which meant that studios dropped their prices to attract business. Through it all, Earls still had plenty of clients, thanks to a work style that flavors the creative artist. "[Country's] not really my market. I'm more about indie projects, indie records... I try to get artist involved in the production. If they hand you that open canvas and say, 'paint it in,' then they're not really bringing their songs to fruition. I tell people that you get a lot more depth when you do your own thing. You capitalize on your strengths." That advice applies to his own band, who benefit from Earls' own experience as a producer. This Midnight Stream's debut record, Cinematic, features dark, rhythmic music with an electric guitar sheen. Earls says that "Joy Division and Jimi Hendrix--lyrics especially--are huge influences. And there's actually a little surf influence in what I do. I like to use a whammy bar, I like the heavy mixed with the clean." The band's sensibility is perhaps best defined by their cover of "She's In Parties," originally performed by goth legends Bauhaus. TMS' version is big and busy, stacked with sound. "I think it's an incredible song," Earls says. "The chorus happens five times. I layered the track; it took a long time." So wherein lies the connection between Earl's Bauhaus fiction and Edwards' more folk-leaning bent? "Her songs.... there's a certain sort of darkness there," Earls says. "I felt like we could give 'em some trippy kind of ambience. I'm real drawn to beat-oriented music. Something there is real primal and base, the way it moves the body. There's room for depth of perception. It's not just word-driven. There's a bigger, lusher, thicker sound." Top |
| This Midnight Stream Cinematic THE RAGE Vol. 1, no52 SPINworthy -reviewed by Clay Steakley There's a duality inherent in any new gothic and/or dark music -- a need to explore new subjects and sonic textures to keep the style from becoming a parody of itself, and a desire to retread the paths already take by every gloomy great from Joy Division to the Cure. Nashville-based group This Midnight Stream offers an engaging balance of these discrepant appetites in their debut Cinematic. The duo of Carole Edwards and Robb Earls, manages to incorporate a lush, accessible sound with the well-worn accoutrements of the gothic genre. They catch the elegance of dark/gothic music, mixing inventive arrangements and instrumentation with their distinctive voices to form a memorable effort. Edwards' voice is silky and languid, calling to mind a mellower Siouxsie or a less esoteric Elizabeth Fraser. Earls, on the other hand, growls out his tunes with a morbid baritone similar to Sisters of Mercy's brilliant Andrew Eldritch. The mixture of these two voices over lyrics that focus more on sensuality than loss is an apt complement to the thickly layered, innovative music. With the exception of the intro to Head, which is a little too close to a Cure song, Cinematic is an original and enjoyable listen. |