Grace Potter - Midnight (2015) [Official Digital Download]

Grace Potter's epic musical journey reaches a new milestone with the arrival of her solo debut, "Midnight", an inspired work that is surprising, revelatory and wildly original. This album was recorded and mixed at Barefoot Studios in Hollywood with producer Eric Valentine, whose own diverse discography from Queens of the Stone Age to Nickel Creek evidences a similarly adventurous spirit and openness to possibility.

If Valentine's studio work has a distinguishing characteristic, it's his hard-hitting sonic signature, which is on display throughout Midnight's dozen tracks. The core studio band consisted of Potter and Valentine on most of the instruments, with Burr on drums and percussion. In addition, members of Potter's longtime band The Nocturnals: guitarists Scott Tournet and Benny Yurco and bassist Michael Libramento contributed to the sessions, as well as former tour-mates and friends including singer-songwriter Rayland Baxter, Audra Mae, Noelle Skaggs of Fitz & the Tantrums, Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, and Nick Oliveri of Queens of the Stone Age.

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Grace Potter - Midnight (2015) [Official Digital Download]

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Leaving behind her longtime band the Nocturnals – in name, at least; a fair number of the members show up here, including her drummer/husband Matt Burr – Grace Potter also leaves country in the dust on her first solo album, Midnight. Teaming with Los Angeles-based producer Eric Valentine – he's best known for heavier stuff like Queens of the Stone Age (he even brought in Nick Oliveri to sing some backup vocals here) but also has done work with progressive bluegrass band Nickel Creek – Potter dives headfirst into pure pop with Midnight, creating a gleaming confection that, at its best, could be mistaken for late-'80s AOR. Such submersion in gloss is bound to alienate fans who've long favored her Americana authenticity but Midnight bears the same considered construction as her four albums with the Nocturnals; the surface just happens to sparkle. At first, that sheen seems blinding: the neo-new wave synths grin along with glam stomps and disco allusions, guitars play to the rafters but are still overshadowed by vocal hooks halfway between Heart and Stevie Nicks or perhaps informed by the urgent revivalism of HAIM or even memories of early Madonna. Potter isn't posturing here. She's embraced every cliché that comes with this retro album rock and that enthusiasm certainly gives Midnight panache – she's every bit as passionate here as she was on the rawer The Lion the Beast the Beat – but what gives the album resonance is how her clever songs keep Valentine's supremely SoCal production from playing like aural candy. Both Potter and Valentine delight in celebrating and inverting the clichés of overblown '80s AOR and that's what makes Midnight such a fun trip.

Tracklist:

01 - Hot to the Touch
02 - Alive Tonight
03 - Your Girl
04 - Empty Heart
05 - The Miner
06 - Delirious
07 - Look What We've Become
08 - Instigators
09 - Biggest Fan
10 - Low
11 - Nobody's Born With a Broken Heart
12 - Let You Go


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