A promising start
O Midnight Fusic vocalist Arif speaks about the band’s debut
THE culmination of five years of friendship and collective growth, pop rock band Midnight Fusic dropped their self-titled debut album in early February, and the reception has been really positive, its vocalist Arif Kamarudin said in an interview with theSun.
In the works since 2018, Midnight Fusic features 14 songs, four of which were previously released – the Vertigo single from 2019 that features Lunadira, and three songs off the band’s Caramel Cream EP. The other ten songs are brand new.
“I would say the whole album brings what could be in a coming-ofage type of movie. I feel like it has a mixture of everything our music stands for as a band. I think it’s a mixture of everything we’ve incorporated throughout five years of being a band,” Arif said.
Alongside Arif, the band, that consists of guitarist Adrian Danial, bassist Firdaus Azmi and drummer Muaz Rabbani, have been likened to Fleetwood Mac.
The vocalist of the band explained that with their new record, Midnight Fusic displayed how they have matured and grown in their songwriting, which can be seen in the album’s opener Strangers, which delves into addiction.
“(Strangers was written) at a time when we were all experiencing things in our own lives and as a band. That’s how we write music first and foremost, we always write it based on experiences. We write music in the heat of the moment.”
Arif said the slight difference and change in sound between the old four songs and ten new songs is a testament to how Midnight Fusic has grown as a band.
Unconventional storytellers
A 14-track pop rock album is certainly an eyebrow-raiser, as current albums rarely contain the number of songs Midnight Fusic has. Even more surprising is the entire album’s playtime, which clocks in at nearly 57 minutes.
“Honestly,
I didn’t even realise it was 57 minutes until you mentioned it,” Arif said, laughing.
He explained that when it comes to writing music, there were times when the band felt that certain songs ended too abruptly. So, they tend to add on more elements, tell a different story or do a different transition from one song to another.
“As a band, we are into storytelling in our music. We want to tell a story as much as we can in one song. As songwriters, Adrian and I always write as much as we can and what we feel. If we can fit it into the song, we will. We don’t really limit ourselves too much by shortening songs,” he said.
Having written so many songs, Arif did not like the idea of not putting certain songs in the album. If he feels that any particular song is right for the album, it will be included or it would be a waste.
Just the beginning
Now that their debut album is out, Arif says the band’s plan is most likely to work on an R&B EP, or even something that leans towards rock.
“As a band, we’re always stuck in the middle because there is no inbetween for us as those are the two types of music we’re really into. It’s still in the works, but there might be an R&B EP coming out this year,” he said.
“We were supposed to have an album launch show in February but that didn’t work out because the Covid-19 cases kept rising. However we will release more music this year, there is more coming from us.”