Emerging NYC darkwave and post-punk duo MIDNIGHTCHOIR share their new single Blackout. The single expands the moody palette embraced on 2023 LP Loverboy Molotov. Where that album included explicitly political songs like Molotov, Blackout tells the story of someone “chased like a demon” from their own home, turning to erasure for their own survival.
The single is the first release from upcoming six song EP, TEMPTATION (DEMOS), out December 20th on all DSPs. The songs explore the melancholy of this treacherous political moment, weaving personal and political narratives together. The songs cover romance, power, religion, capital, and the way these factors influence all social and romantic relationships.
The video for Blackout plays like a hostage video, showing members Patrick Bobilin and Sarah Simon terrorized by off-screen kidnappers. Through dim lighting and passionate (if bound) performances, Bobilin and Simon express intensity, even while tied up and blindfolded in a nondescript, dimly-lit room.
New York-born and raised Patrick Bobilin and Sarah Simon have led MIDNIGHTCHOIR since 2023. TEMPTATION (DEMOS) is the follow up to December 2023’s VIRUS (DEMOS), showcasing unreleased songs the act has been playing live throughout the NYC region.
TEMPTATION (DEMOS) shows the band collaborating more and expanding beyond their influences of goth and post-punk acts like Sisters of Mercy and Depeche Mode. The songs swipe lyrics from classic new wave hits, recontextualized for modern times, like God’s Favor taking from Simple Minds’s “Don’t You Forget About Me”. Foolish Hearts and Spinning talk explicitly about the ways that romance is influenced by sociopolitical frameworks, whether capitalism or institutional religion. God’s Favor and Tempted explore the intersection of political and religious power, with emotional explorations of how and why cultish fervor builds within.
While July 2023’s Loverboy Molotov LP was made with political urgency in mind, recent songs have covered the climate crisis, corporate power, and emotional turmoil. Their next LP, Debtor’s Disco, will be released in 2025. It takes a lighter tone, while still maintaining focus on the duo’s worldly concerns. To quote the unreleased Keep Your Revolution: “You can keep your revolution/ if we can’t dance to it./ Because we’re not going out on our knees. / We’re going out on our feet.”
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