There was a time, earlier in this decade, right when people were first starting to get sick of The Strokes, when the revival of the dark, driving eighties Anglo-New Wave seemed to be the ‘next big thing’, in bands like Interpol & Editors. But then such acts failed to live up to their potential in their follow-up album, either disappointingly (see Interpol’s No Love To Admire – QRO review) or just not quite amazingly (see Editors’ An End Has a Start – QRO review), and American indie, at least, seemed to move on. Only acts like U.K.’s White Lies (QRO spotlight on) or Aussie imports Morning After Girls (QRO spotlight on) seem to be holding up this corner of the Union Jack – which makes it all the more welcome that it is New York that has produced Blacklist and their debut, Midnight of the Century.
While opener “Still Changes” threatens to take Midnight down the electro-dance road, the following “Flight of the Demoiselles” really sets the tone, employing that grand sound coined in the U.K. in the early eighties. However, the band doesn’t stay in that classic mode, introducing a road-drive, higher haunt, and even poppier catch at the end. While the first two new elements sometimes deliver mixed results, like the strong “Julie Speaks” or “Odessa” vs. the plainer “Shock In The Hotel Falcon” or “Poison For Tomorrow”, final two tracks “When Worlds Collide” & “The Believer” actually make the addition of hooks the most rewarding, as the band doesn’t lose their underlying darkness.
A band named ‘Blacklist’, with an album named ‘Midnight of the Century’, and even tracks named things like “Language of the Living Dead” – no, this isn’t a happy record, but the Anglo New Wave still might be the best way to get across the darkness we all now are having to deal with.
