It begins as a shimmer on the horizon, a radiance without source, gathering itself into form the way a hymn gathers breath. Soon the air trembles with its ascent: the architecture of longing rising on invisible scaffolds, delicate as dust. Then comes the beautiful disorder: the tilt, the shudder, the slow unthreading of what once seemed ordained. Light turns against itself; harmony fractures into bright, bewildered fragments. In its wake remains only the echo of something too vast to name…an afterglow, a ruin, a quiet proof that even the most incandescent miracles are born to falter.
Minimal Schlager’s new single, Midnight Runner, arrives like a late-hour transmission—blurred by motion, streaked with feeling, and charged with the strange electricity of moments that vanish even as they ignite. Out now via The Department of Research of Underground Groove & Sound, the track functions as an epilogue to the duo’s After Midnight EP, extending its glow while tracing the rise and collapse of a romance lived at high speed. Its imagery: city lights in retreat, the breathless chase of desire, sets the frame for a piece built on hushed vocals, euphoric arpeggio patterns, and the wild promise of dancing through heartbreak.
Minimal Schlager walks a line between the neon pulse of Italo disco, the unfamiliar corners of new wave, and the forgotten textures of Berlin’s dive-bar after-hours. Here, that blend is sharpened.
Cisco Parisi describes its genesis plainly and vividly: “We were inspired by old school Italo disco but also wanted that chaotic post-punk edge. I wanted to create the feeling of running wild at 2 AM, of streetlights flashing by, so I started with a relentless synth arpeggio. Halfway through writing, we realised this track was becoming one of the most intense things we’ve done. It’s like you’re dancing through the drama of a breakup in real time.” That relentless undercurrent becomes the song’s spine.
Alicia Macanás brings the emotional frame into sharp relief: “Midnight Runner tells a story I think many people know. Eyes meet, bodies feel invincible. But once the day breaks, the illusion cracks and you’re left with the reality. It’s a celebration of that night-time magic, where hope and heartbreak coexist.” Her voice seems to trace those contours: soft, steady, edged with the weight of recognition.
Listen to Midnight Runner below and order the single here.
After Midnight and Midnight Runner point to a new phase, shaped by three demanding years of touring across Europe and the US—a phase defined by heavier beats, sharper synths, and lyrics steeped in confusion, longing, and desire. The duo’s earlier dreamlike approach gives way to something tougher, more immediate, yet still lit by traces of tenderness.
Produced between Parisi’s Berlin studio and Phil Manzanera’s Gallery Studios in London, Midnight Runner feels like a transmission caught mid-flight, steeped in feeling, and built for the hours when the city seems to breathe differently.
Catch Minimal Schlager live:
Tour Dates:
- November 15 – Hamburg, Germany @ Kampnagel, with Circuit des Yeux
- November 17 – Leipzig, Germany @ UT Connewitz, with Circuit des Yeux
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