Some songs have the strength to turn every human into a hero, with lyrics so bright-eyed and melodies so universal they lift a crowd of sweaty clubbers into a stadium’s worth of energy.

These are songs about togetherness and trials won by love, and these are the kind of songs The Midnight delivers on its fourth studio album Heroes; the final chapter in a trilogy of human life that started with 2018’s Kids and culminates in an international tour that sees the duo transformed into an electrifying five-piece band.

From its synth-heavy beginnings to arena rock chords and infectious pop hooks, The Midnight’s musical journey is one fueled by insatiable curiosity. The duo lives at the intersection of varying paths, driven by the frictional spark that fires when Southern-born singer-songwriter Tyler Lyle melts his all-American dreamer tales with Danish-bred drummer and producer Tim McEwan’s cinematic soundscapes.

Together, they form something deeper than just house, vibier than pop, and altogether more exciting than the sum of its parts. 

“Tim comes from a different culture, different taste, different sort of musical firmament,” Lyle says, “and what we have in common is that we like good songs.”

Lyle got his start in the folk song traditions of the American south. Raised by a music minister and mobile home salesman, he cut his teeth as an entertainer leading the choir in a small town Methodist church. Dreaming big, he moved to Paris after high school and studied philosophy. When he returned to follow his musical passions in Atlanta, he found his folk sound gaining attention with major labels who sought him to write for stars in LA.

That’s how he first met McEwan, who was raised not in the bright lights of Hollywood but in Denmark. His own father is a drummer, both parents are actors and entertainers, and they supported McEwan’s musical passions, as did his country. A state-funded program helped the budding producer hone his skills. After graduating, he moved to London and had a hit on pirate radio, but it was years later in Copenhagen that he’d find success with the publishing team that brought him to the U.S.

Lyle and McEwan connected from the moment they first met in a Los Angeles studio. What was meant to be a session for others turned into pure creative spontaneity. The new friends stumbled onto a sound all their own, penning “We Move Forward” in a few hours time. The song became a favorite on The Midnight’s debut EP Days of Thunder, released in 2014.

Within that single’s euphoric rhythms and bittersweet synth lead are the seeds of The Midnight’s signature style. It’s powerful and hopeful, matched with Lyle’s romantic and philosophical observations of everyday feeling, a theme that continues on the intimate sonic portraits that Heroes paints.