Dorks And Losers

Los Angeles-based psy­che­delic pop band Mid­night Movies (Gene Olivier, vocals; Larry Schemel, gui­tar; Ryan Wood, bass; and San­dra Vu, drums) finally recorded their French ver­sion of Moody Blues’ “Nights In White Satin” due to tremen­dous pop­u­lar demand. What used to be only avail­able live at their con­certs, is now included on the band’s Nights EP, which is sort of a com­pan­ion to last year’s sopho­more album Lion The Girl.

It’s a slight com­pan­ion piece because a cou­ple of tracks (“Should Have Known” and “Stormy Eyes”) were writ­ten and pro­duced dur­ing the Lion The Girl ses­sions. Hav­ing already lis­tened to that album and now those two tracks that didn’t make the album cut, it was a good choice to leave them out.

Both are moody and sound like they’re com­ing on the bad side of an acid trip. That’s not to say that every­thing on Lion The Girl was cheer­ful and joy­ous, but those two tracks would have dis­rupted the album’s focus a bit. “Should Have Known” (lis­ten to the track here) is the most up-tempo of the two, but it feels more like a fran­tic rush down some rapids rather than the usual fleet­ing drift. And on sec­ond thought, “Stormy Eyes” prob­a­bly wouldn’t have upset Lion’s bal­ance too much, but the band does con­tem­po­rize its retro style more so than usual.

A cou­ple of Lion The Girl remixes are also included. Nick Zin­ner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) reworks “Sou­venirs” with a slightly more indus­trial feel while James Iha (Smash­ing Pump­kins) reworks “Patient Eye” with a thin disco coat­ing and a touch of rebel­lious atti­tude. The remixes are a lit­tle shorter than the orig­i­nals, but it’s not sur­pris­ing given how lit­tle each song is tweaked.

A French ver­sion of “Nights in White Satin” called “Mes Rêves De Satin” rounds out the EP. Even though this writer can speak some French, it doesn’t sound as pow­er­ful when it’s not sung in Eng­lish, and that’s in spite of Olivier’s sul­try vocals.

It’s too bad politi­cians couldn’t be as sym­pa­thetic to pub­lic demand as Mid­night Movies are when it comes to giv­ing the peo­ple what they want. Nights is a pleas­ant stand alone EP and a wel­come exten­sion of the enjoy­able Lion The Girl. It’s avail­able only as a dig­i­tal release from New Line Records.

[pho­tos via Mid­night Movies]
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Track list:

1. Nights In White Satin
2. Should Have Known
3. Sou­venirs (Nick Zin­ner Remix)
4. Stormy Eyes
5. Patient Eye (James Iha Remix)
6. Mes Reves de Satin

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