I have been itching for an album from Mid City since I first heard their track “Dead Broke Blues” back in 2018 and it only increased after catching the band live in 2019. A few weeks ago, the Melbourne band made my wish a reality with their debut album, Happy Ever After. I should have written this review a few days after the album came out, but the issue was that I had to stop listening to it to write said review, and well, that just wasn’t going to happen.
Not that the excitement or listening has waned since the release of Happy Ever After. If anything, it has increased. I just have the mental capacity to write instead of dancing around and singing into a Sharpie.
If one has been following along with Mid City’s career, fans will recognise last year’s “Choc Mint” and the 2023 singles, “Happy Ever After”, “Compromise”, and “Emily” that are on the album. Though the latter three were teased at each release as being on the debut album itself.
While myself and other fans may have had to wait 5 years for a full length after their debut single, it has been worth the wait.
Be it musically, lyrically, or through the band’s growth through their instruments, Happy Ever After continues to showcase Mid City’s strength in their craft.
Always a band to write songs that are witty and punchy like “Compromise” and “Choc Mint” or songs that are head-in-the-clouds, heartfelt, honest, and full of raw emotions like “Happy Ever After”, “Lover Again”, and “Someone Like You” the band have taken their lyrics to another realm of infectious and catchy. The words seep into the mind, searing themselves into one’s memory as if they were lived through instead of just heard.
It’s Mid City’s ability to connect their music to something deeper than just an aural experience, one that’s not only heard, but smelled, seen, tasted, and touched that makes them a wonderful band. Once the band’s musical talent is added to the mix, the wonderful is amplified to eleven.
Happy Ever After ebbs and flows, not in quality, but in mood or better yet tempo. Moving from high energetic songs to down tempo or slower songs, but the ebb and flow is needed. It not only allows breathing room, but gives space to fully enjoy the individual tracks as magnificent stand alone anthems.
What I’ve always enjoyed about Mid City and Happy Ever After elegantly displays this is their U2-esque sound, especially the guitars which the title track and “Red Lights” captures beautifully and I’ve wrote before this before and I will probably say it every chance I get, Mid City continues to take indie guitar pop to levels where The Killers failed to do so. Mid City nails guitar drive feel good dance-y tracks to a perfect tee.
And that’s what Happy Ever After is. A perfect debut album from a band who is merely getting started on world domination.
MUST LISTEN TRACKS: “Compromise”, “Someone Like You”, “Strangers” “Red Lights”
FAVOURITE TRACKS: “Compromise”, “Choc Mint”, “Strangers”
