Album Review: Midnight Rodeo - 'Chaos Era'
Lucid quintet make their mark with their coming-of-age debut suite of velvet wares.
A forging of friendships that started in the city of Nottingham and it's bustling live circuit, Midnight Rodeo are a finite example to the testament that sheer passion and determination of will allows you to go and do just about anything. Assembled by Maddy Chamberlain, the five-piece hailing from the 0115 are one band where the media and journalists of music can't all agree on one set genre to pigeonhole them in. Some style them as psychedelic art-pop, some see them more on the beaches with their surf-pop tunes while others just have them riding on the easy coattails of alternative-indie - a statement that is neither here or there.
Maybe that's exactly the point. Their breakneck fusions of multiple genres don't really give much room for Midnight Rodeo to sound like anyone else. Their dreamy melodies are not meant for you to draw up comparisons or to give them a base genre, it's more as a means for you to escape from the kinks of daily life and draw you in with all its magnitude.
Now, with their debut LP on the horizon, "Chaos Era", we get to see the spoils of playing in an ensemble with your mates. It seems tere's a reason why they opted for such an extensive touring plan before deciding to sign on the dotted line and laying down recordings - that warm fuzzy feeling when you play live was just too good to stop even just for a fleeting moment. They love it too much.
To truly understand why they were always smiling on stag, its 11 track run-through weaves in and out of different tastes and textures as five different heads brimming with different ideas come together in a musical mind-map of solitude and triumph.
It's a huge understatement to say that a few musical backgrounds are at play - it's the whole roster. The LP's patchwork at base is a greedy helping at a sonic buffet - a bit of this, a bit of that. What we come out with is a daunting offering: but one that is equally easy to stomach. We have those West Coast psyche chords over hip disco rhythms playing in one corner, then you have those jazzy Hammond organ additions in the other on "Captain's Table", paired with a cowboy twang on such songs like "Strange Eyes." We keep going - riding Latino rhythms blasted in a spaghetti western in "Vulture Vulture", then there's carpe-diem jolt of "Buggin' Out", the groups' very own abridged version to any Tower of Power slow pocket of funk. A dramatic appearance when you never quite know when to expect it, those oscillating synth spooks are a delight too, like we're treading carefully through the Addams Family mansion. The whole art-pop thesis plays out like a film.
While everything else is tightly wound in a three or four minute slot, the poetic end of "Nothing of You" is its exception. A seven-minute meander of acoustic indie at its finest, the band take stock and slow it down, perhaps finally aware of the chaotic brilliance they've just spruced up, seemingly from one nugget of an idea to the next.
Midnight Rodeo as a project is not just a testament to the power of friendship, but also to the power of a city rife with a live circuit. The origin of how a band is formed is always integral to its continuation, and its members tip their hypothetical hat to its powerful community in stomping romp "Captain's Table." A driving force of funky bass lines and organ jives, it harks back to the Bodega, a 220-capacity venue at the centre of Nottingham's scene, and a pivotal spot to those keen artists who are trying to cut their way through all of the noise. A lyrical highlight from Maddy, they reminiscence of the rush being invited into the inner circle, the mischievous late-night schemes and fifteen minute friendships forged in the dark on those sticky floors.
While the sonics are an impressive display, the context of the record is not lost on us. A true coming-of-age romp, "Chaos Era" is the trials and tribulations of a group of 20-somethings wrestling with relationships, social dynamics and dreams. Recorded in a reclusive Welsh countryside backdrop amidst a sprawling heatwave with no distractions, "Chaos Era" is a story of escape for those five friends who just wanted everything else to stop, so the only thing that mattered for those 10 days - was the music.
Channelling an unbridled joy to the wonderfully weird, "Chaos Era" is Nottingham's next iconic sound. While they may be fairly new to the music table, Midnight Rodeo' opening hand is a strong one.
Words by Alex Curle
