The sweepingly melodic “Hold Me After” represents the second single from Midnight Garden‘s upcoming album, Blue Tomorrows. A reflective synth-pop charm is apparent from the get-go. “In every problem, there’s always doubt in every move,” the lush vocals begin over a hypnotic synth-forward push. The bridge leading into the chorus shows spacey, serene synth additions that play engagingly, with the subsequent “going backwards,” hook succeeding. Relatively ominous tones just prior to the two-minute mark captivate, returning seamlessly to a crisper synth-pop showing more akin to the initial melody. “Hold Me After” definitely has me anticipating Blue Tomorrows.
The San Diego-based duo write the following regarding the track:
“It was inspired by the idea of withdrawing into yourself, but regretting it once you’re in that special someone’s arms again. It’s not so much about a story or something super specific, but it’s more of an invitation to look inside yourself, and hold onto the ones around you. “Hold Me After,” like most of the record, was written and recorded with a back and forth, sort of layering process. Beginning with an instrumental, the verse and chorus parts came first. On this song, and most of the others on the album, one of us will be kinda drawn vocally to the chorus or verse, and one of us will then just work on the other part, informed by the other. We like our songs to have a structure that allows us to put a surprise in there or take the listener in a different direction. This is where the middle part comes in on this song; Something to twist the mood.”
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“Hold Me After” and other memorable tracks from this month can also be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Best of August 2020’ Spotify playlist.
The track is also featured in the genre-based, best-of Spotify compilation Emerging Electronic.