Listening Booth: “Syndicate” by The Midnight

If you came of age in, or are a fan of, synth music from the 1980s, The Midnight will fit right into the pocket of your fanaticism. Their most recent album, “Syndicate” (Released October 3, 2025), is not only awash in synth but awash in a dark nostalgia. It is a self-described “making peace with the apocalypse record,” according to The Midnight’s singer and lyricist, Tyler Lyle, and it certainly presents itself as that from the opening title track, which starts ominously low, building cinematically to an orgy of ultra-processed lead guitar work and electronic drums. Though it’s an instrumental track, think of it as a doorway into a world built by the duo of Lyle and McEwan. Their sound is synth-drenched and cinematic — a future-past soundtrack that conjures a bygone era, treating its ’80s cultural artifacts as found objects and repurposing them into something that feels urgent, of our time, and propelled by beats you can dance to.

If you hoped “Syndicate” would be 90 minutes of repetitive thumping to complement a Molly-enhanced trip, you’ll be somewhat disappointed that The Midnight have crafted fully realized songs with more traditional structures and analog instruments. Though electronic instruments pervade, you will hear saxophone and electric guitar that will make you think of Michael Sembello’s “Maniac” or a myriad of songs from the 1980s that were not shy about liberally using sax solos.

Just to put a fine point on this: Synthwave is a genre steeped in nostalgia, and the song structures on this record honor that spirit — they belong to another time, and another century. Sure, contemporary pop, rock, country, and soul have leaned on the familiar arc of verse, pre-chorus, chorus, and bridge, but decades of hip-hop, electronica, and the catch-all “alternative” umbrella pushed those conventions aside, bending and upending song structure as a matter of course. Hearing this kind of traditional songcraft on “Syndicate” in that context feels genuinely refreshing. It raises a question worth sitting with: maybe the restless song structure experimentation of the last twenty-odd years is beginning to fade, and our collective ears are drifting back toward something familiar and something we can get lost in.

If you couldn’t tell by now, this is what I love about The Midnight’s “Syndicate.” Yes, the vibe of the album is reminiscent, evocative, and often wistful, but the dark underbelly of its lyrics (even when it’s being its most melodic) gives it a certain kind of relevance to our doomscrolling-algorithmically AI-constructed social reality. While this record is certainly one created for humans by humans to take them on a journey of sorts – by which I mean the album is meant to be listened to from beginning to end – there are many standout tracks that listeners will likely come back to or repeat.

For me, one track I was sucked into was “Runaways,” which features singer-songwriter Bonnie McKee. While McKee’s name may not be familiar to many folks, you’ll likely know the string of hits she co-wrote with Katy Perry. You can check out the wiki of her song credits, but safe to say that if you’ve heard “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Last Friday Night,” and “Roar,” you’ve heard a Bonnie McKee composition.

On “Runaways,” it’s less about stylistic echoes of those songs and more about what her voice conjures — at least for me. The reference point that kept surfacing was Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer.” That song’s enduring melancholy owes much to Mike Campbell’s deceptively simple three-note synth figure (F# → F → D♭), which anchored the track while he riffed around it on guitar. Strip that out, and the song loses the dark undertow that makes it timeless. “Runaways” works a similar kind of magic, opening with its own three-note synth motif that drives the intro.

Lyrically, the song is not so much about getting older and lost loves of the past, but more about wanting to flee from what is to “California dreaming” – whatever that might be. McKee is originally from the Golden State (born in Vacaville), so maybe for her, that dream is about being free of whatever impending doom is coming at the end of summer. Sure, lyrically, it’s bleak, but damn if the hooks in this song don’t make it one to repeat.

While “Syndicate” is an extremely strong album that demonstrates the duo of Lyle and McEwan put a lot of thought, time, and energy into crafting quality songs, I will highlight the album’s one shortcoming (though it might be intentional): the overuse of three-note synth hooks similar to the one in “Runaways.” But this is a minor quibble in an otherwise satisfying journey through its future-past synthwave soundscapes.

The Midnight is touring – with some dates sold out – in the following cities:

MAY 6, 2026

The Mission Ballroom

Denver, CO