Midden - Nothing New Under The Sun

Released: June 16

The latest release from Midden (Evan Hardy) is a serene follow up to last year's split with Stone Jaw released on Bent Window. Minimal and cold textures abound throughout the just over 30 minute runtime of the album, which showcase Hardy's ability to create rich compositions from the most minute sounds. Hardy also manages to integrate so more prominent and forthright sounds into this album at just the right points such as the slightly distorted and glitchy piece in the final track "Simulacra" while also keeping the ambient atmosphere intact. 

A favorite track of mine on the album is the third track, "Biolocations." There's just so much depth of texture in this track from the ebbing delayed notes of an electric guitar and all the little neck sounds included to the slightly degraded field recordings taking up the background complete with the soft clicks and pops of low fidelity recording. This track also takes us into the longest track on the album, "Subterrane," which keeps a quite low profile for a portion of the song until we are treated to some airy and soaring guitar parts that has quite an interesting chain of effects as you can hear the main guitar play and then the decay of the sound begins to warp and transform in beautifully degraded ways. I love these little details such as these because it gives an atmosphere of serenity and beauty with just the littlest touches of noise and harshness to add depth without overpowering.