Artist Of The Day: Midnight Faces

Personally, the best little band discoveries are the ones that I see live and had no knowledge of their existence before a mind-blowing performance. In late March, I went to see a fantastic band called The 1975 (lots more coverage of them coming soon), but I paid attention to the openers up until the moment that the first one began. Midnight Faces won me over almost immediately through ambient electronics and synths along with a pop sensibility and fantastic songwriting. Phil Stancil's vocals soar across the soundscapes produced by Matthew Warn, who had previously worked with Fleet Foxes Josh Tillman (of Fleet Foxes and Father John Misty fame) as the post-rock group Saxon Shore. Warn's post-rock background is displayed through the captivating arrangements of synth and drums, but at the same time Midnight Faces couldn't be further from post-rock, as ridiculously catchy vocal melodies dominate both the choruses and verses of many of the tracks on the band's debut album Fornication. The band has been playing shows around my current turf of the Washington, DC area, but they should soon be touring both country-wide and internationally. Absolutely check them out if they come to your area, so be sure to follow their tour dates on their Facebook page. Fornication will be released on June 18, and you can preview tracks and preorder the album on their Bandcamp page.