Rochester singer midnight (or mdnt) has been dazzling of late, feeding his listeners spectacular electronic r&b tracks for much of the past year. Singles like “Adonis” and “Baptize” drew expansive acclaim for midnight, building hype up to his release of debut EP XII Labors. Featuring seven tracks of his crooning falsetto and ear for great production, midnight’s debut is a wonderful introduction to the talented artist.
The project kicks off with “Baptize,” produced by Buffalo’s YLXR. The track, indicative of its title, sees midnight birth a new attitude and confidence, “standing up to fears that haunt me, can’t no one stop me now.” On “Floating and Falling,” the singer takes on a surprisingly bright beat. Producer craves’ bouncing, lively instrumental syncs up nicely with midnight’s dark vocals as he pleads with a lover to take whatever he has.
“Cool Kids (DFWU)” has more of an edge to it than some of midnight’s other songs, and he does a great job exploring this attitude. “You don’t wanna fuck with me, so don’t fuck with me,” he sings on a particularly catchy chorus. midnight links back up with YLXR for the album closer “Harder,” a re-imagined version of Ariana Grande’s hit single “Love Me Harder.” YLXR’s production is wild in the best way, and midnight’s vocals coupled with a nice guest rapping verse from Jez Dior make the track a creative project highlight.
midnight does an awesome job working in conjunction with his beats. HIs voice floats around in the mix, at times louder than the production and other times lower in the levels. He has the voice to take on a lot of different electronic beats, and on XII Labors, he does just that. “Sinister” is more of a dark, droning beat, “Cool Kids” has that edge, and “Harder” has a lot of everything. midnight is a versatile singer, and Labors provides an impressive collection of what he can do. Give it a listen below.