Midsummer / Coastal: This Ageless Night

There are two lessons I learned from listening to This Ageless Night. The first is that Midsummer and Coastal are two bands. The second is that while emo is a mostly worthless genre, during the ’90s it did go through a couple of years where emo bands were actually creating note-worthy music. For all too short a period, bands like Christie Front Drive and Indian Summer were taking the emo mold and turning it into something special by experimenting with synthesizers, keyboards, and the teachings of My Bloody Valentine to astounding effect. While both Midsummer and Coastal are modern bands, they take the work of those two bands and, by expanding on it, have created an excellent split CD. The result is 10 finely crafted sonic landscapes built with hypnotizing melodies and just enough experimental flourishes. The difference between the two is that where Midsummer soars, Coastal lulls.

California based quintet Midsummer, made up of Dale Bryson (guitars, vocals, programming), Steve Elkins (drums, programming), Jay Sengstock (bass, piano, keys), Ryan Pue (guitars, vocals), and Action Ovley (background vocals), are the more hi-fi of the two bands sharing this CD. The production on their five songs is impeccably clean to the point that it approaches alien in the sense that a sound so pure could not be created in a studio that exists on present day Earth. The opening track, “Ghosts”, begins with a nod towards the early work of the Charlatans UK, with a melody that is pretty in its simplicity. On “Tempests”, Bryson transforms himself into a Jeremy Enigk doppelganger. The piano driven track brings to mind the song “Circles” by Sunny Day Real Estate, but is even more breathtaking. The third track, “Silent Blue”, makes excellent use of synthesizers in the background, sounding like some futuristic violin section. The song builds towards a stunning crescendo made up of shimmering guitars and reverberating bass and drums.

Although not quite as striking as the first three songs, “Japanese Beetle” is where Midsummer shows the most promise. Sounding like Erasure without the disco crossed with Deep Forest without the new age meandering, the instrumental track could easily replace the most majestic songs from Walt Disney’s Fantasia — if it took place in a land of flying cars, no pollution, and silver and crystal buildings. The final offering by Midsummer, “‘Til Human Voices Wake Us”, gives away the fact that they’ve been listening to a whole bunch of Sigur Ros. By placing the hushed vocals behind the music, they become another instrument, similar to the manner in which Sigur Ros make use of their vocals. As the song builds, the guitars become crunchy, not Mogwai ear shattering, but crunchy enough to provide a nice contrast with the melodic movements featured in the song.

Costal are a trio made up of Jason Gough (guitar, vocals, keys, drums), Josh Callaway (bass, guitar, keys), and Luisa Gough (piano, keys) and are the more lo-fi of the two bands. They focus on hypnotic strumming to hook the listener with delicate melodies and often use samples instead of vocals. The first song, “Sunbathers”, is a piano based track that uses beach samples of the ocean lapping at the shore and seagulls chirping — apropos for a band called Coastal. “Still Nothing” features gentle guitar strumming with random chirps and bleeps programmed in to augment the results. The third song, “All Children Sail Home”, begins with light guitar strumming and piano playing backed by samples of a woman sharing a conversation with a ghost by the sea. They add some horns at the end, and in the process make you wish they did it more often. The final song, “The End of Summer”, is the most blatant nod to Indian Summer, and the one track where the vocals are in the forefront.

With the recent success of Broken Social Scene it is not hard to imagine a bright future for both Midsummer and Coastal. The two bands are of the rare ilk that can expand musical horizons while providing music that has actual soul. Although the word “emo” has been tainted, it is appropriate in the sense that on This Ageless Night the music is truly moving.