Midnight Movies: Patient Eye / Golden Hair

When Midnight Movies hit SXSW back in 2004, they managed to rock the pens of a few critics with infections jams like “Strange Design”. Now, with a new full-length coming in April, it seems that Midnight Movies have made a drastic departure with their sound. “Patient Eye” dabbles in breathy shoegaze, lost somewhere between My Bloody Valentine and Nico’s Marble Index. The song is unyieldingly dark, but the single mix pales to the LP version, which boasts more guitar riffing and an unbeatable keyboard bridge. Short even by preview-single standards, this three-track disc also boasts a very dark Sonic Youth-like take Syd Barrett’s “Golden Hair” (itself a reimaging of James Joyce prose). Heavy on atmospheric cymbal work, the song can’t help but get itself wrapped up in its own sense of atmosphere, making for a diversion that would appeal to hardcore fans (of either Movies or Barrett) but no-one else. There’s nothing wrong with exchanging sunshine boom for indie gloom, but as a teaser EP, collectors need only apply.