Photo by Johnathan Rojas
New York City darkwave/post-punk duo MIDNIGHT CHOIR has unleashed TEMPTATION (DEMOS), a collection that seethes with the passion of their live sets. Building on the brooding intensity of their single Blackout and the incendiary fan-favorite Molotov, this brilliant release dives headlong into a storm of romantic defiance and radical critique with a keen sense of wisdom and intellect.
TEMPTATION (DEMOS) brims with urgency, unspooling the threads that relentlessly bind the personal and the political. Themes of love, power, religion, and capital collide, exploring their entanglement in the chaos of human connection. TEMPTATION (DEMOS) reflects the fractures of a fraught political moment, pulling no punches as it delivers its message with sharp-edged sincerity.
The collection finds MIDNIGHTCHOIR pushing past their post-punk lineage. The specters of Sisters of Mercy and Depeche Mode linger, yet the duo transforms these influences into something rawer; something NOW. Borrowing lines from classic new wave tracks, they twist nostalgia into a mirror for the modern malaise, reflecting a world unraveling in real time.
This brooding bundle of six songs bursts forth with Blackout, a driving track draped in darkwave currents. Here, Patrick Bobilin’s voice snarls and swirls, while Sarah Simon pounds out percussion that pummels the chest. Blackout sketches the struggles of one hounded by horrors, forced to flee a home tainted by terror. Survival demands the erasure of old ties, old truths, old identities. Within these lines stands a soul shaped by desire and tested by the weight of power. Their fierce climb toward freedom, sharpened by sacrifice, demands high fees—moral missteps, dangerous bargains, and quiet compromises lie along this crooked path. There is shame in the world’s judging eyes, there is rancor in its ridiculing whispers, but this determined heart refuses to kneel. Instead, they grip the reins of their own existence, devising rules, discarding blame, and defying each doubter. In Blackout, we find a will like iron, a spirit sparked by strife, and a body bent but unbowed. This opening salvo sings of struggle and stubborn survival, setting a fierce tone for all that follows. Each chosen chord charts change.
Watch the video for “Blackout” below:
Tempted thrums with the tension of a soul caught in a tug-of-war between yearning and resolve. Desire grips the heart like a thief, its allure both fiery and unforgiving, leaving the narrator spiraling through arguments and emotional fractures. Fate whispers, faith falters, and self-awareness sharpens like a blade, slicing through the fleeting illusions of control. The lyrics paint temptation as a restless predator, feeding on flesh and thought, leaving isolation and regret in its wake.
The accompanying video captures this turmoil with striking contrasts. Filmed at Brooklyn’s dearly-departed Saint Vitus and interspersed with candlelit studio shots, it embodies the raw energy of the band’s live performance. Bobilin commands the stage with confrontational ferocity, a presence electric and undeniable, while Simon’s restrained cool provides a counterpoint, like an ice-tempering flame. Together, they mirror the song’s push and pull, chaos and calm. For those yet unacquainted with the band’s fervent dynamism, the video serves as a searing invitation into their world of sound and struggle.
The journey plunges deeper into industrial terrain with The Ride, a track that growls and grinds like machinery worn by time yet pushing forward with relentless resolve. Its clamor feels like a restless engine, propelling the listener toward a finale both sweeping and strange. That finale arrives with Spinning, a post-apocalyptic gospel that rises like smoke from a smoldering world. Voices swell and converge, evoking both reverence and rebellion, as the song turns its gaze to the intricate ways romance bends beneath the weight of sociopolitical forces.
Whether shaped by the cold calculus of capitalism or the rigid doctrines of institutional religion, love here becomes a battlefield of ideals, desires, and constraints. Spinning pulls no punches as it lays bare the intersections of intimacy and influence. The song’s choral crescendo wraps the album’s thematic threads into a final, soaring statement, leaving a resonant echo of a world where passion and politics remain forever entwined. It delivers a gripping meditation on power, connection, and the forces that shape the fragile threads of the human heart.
TEMPTATION (DEMOS) is out on December 20th on all streaming services. Listen to the album below:
Native New Yorker Patrick Bobilin has been sculpting auditory experiences under the moniker MIDNIGHTCHOIR since 2014. Sarah Simon joined MIDNIGHTCHOIR in 2023
Bobilin’s fury at the system is not merely the lamentation of an artist scorned. Loverboy Molotov was made with much of Bobilin’s urgency and energy of his political campaigns in 2017, 2020, and 2022. Besides his runs for public office, Bobilin led community action organizations during the 2020 social justice uprisings…got arrested repeatedly while organizing Black Lives Matter protests, and founded a Manhattan mutual aid organization. That social justice work, which had Bobilin arguing with former-mayor de Blasio about policing on live radio, has found its way into his lyrics, which amplifies many of the frustrations that inspired his far-left politics.
While Bobilin may lean on 80’s new wave and goth influences, the autobiographical elements of the album reflect his experiences in politics and protest. The politics of the album are far left, with emotional, social, religious, and political concerns peppered throughout.
Their next LP, Debtor’s Disco, will be released in 2025. It takes a lighter tone, while still maintaining focus on the duo’s worldly concerns.
See them at their release show on 19 December at Danger Danger in Brooklyn, New York.
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