Review: The Day – Midnight Parade

We’re less than a month into 2019 and already have a strong contender for album of the year. The debut record from The Day, a collaboration between Laura Loeters and Gregor Sonnenberg, is almost the textbook example of perfect dream pop—shimmering, tender, infused with a deep sense of empathy and care. In it I hear everything I’ve ever loved about the mid-90s Sarah Records, joining forces with all the wonderful textures of the great Labrador Records bands of the mid 2000s. The result is a joyous symphony, which feels intimate and deeply personal, while also conveying a sense of universality.

That duality is partly a function of the songwriting, which is superb. But it’s also a testament to the impeccable nature of the production. There’s a sense of great distance in the open textures here. You can breathe it in as a whole gestalt thing, and feel a sense of connection across the grand expanses of space and time. Like any good shoegaze record, it lends itself this sort of abstraction. At the same time, like any good jangle pop record, it’s a perfect accompaniment to an afternoon drive when all you want is a wash of joyous sound.

But it’s also the sort of record that lends itself to cozying up by a fire with some good headphones. Because as you dig into every nook and cranny, you discover just how precisely all the details have been rendered. Every note, every drum fill, every slight pause…they’re all laid down with intention and care.

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a song that’s filled me with the same sort of unmediated joy as We Killed Our Hearts. But I also struggle to think of a song that’s so perfectly blended anthemic grandeur and quiet intimacy as Berlin. And yet these descriptions apply to virtually every song on the record. Island is as delicate as it is luxurious. Grow is a bopper, which also feels deeply personal. The Years is somehow intensely sad and joyful at the same time.

I could go on with gushing praise about every song here, but in the end the unifying theme of Midnight Parade is pretty simple: it offers a sense of deep melancholy tempered by a powerful and unrelenting faith in the potential for human beings to reach across barriers and find reasons to love. And, to be honest, it’s hard to think of a message that’s more important in 2019.

There are still eleven months of what I’m sure will be great music to come, but I think it’s possible I’ve already settled on my favorite album of the year.