Release Date: 3 October 2025
Song Count: 17
Rating: 8.1/10
Description:
A relatively recent release, Syndicate is the sixth album by the Los Angeles-based electronic music duo The Midnight, consisting of singer Tyler Lyle and Danish producer Tim McEwan. The two have been making music since 2012, and have now combined together once more to create a grand set of 17 synthwave songs, making this the longest album reviewed on the blog so far in terms of duration at an entire 85 minutes.
The album follows a very specific make-up of components and song structures all around, the tracks having a more upbeat yet smooth sound to them, provided by the almost-purely electronic instrumentation, clean vocals and slick mixing and production. The songs fit the energy of the streets a hyper-futuristic city during nighttime, every corner filled with automation, technology and shining neon lights.
Particular moments within this album break from this set mold, however, by introducing actual instruments to the mixture and having them perform intricate and grand solos in the bridges of certain songs, such as electric guitars in songs like "Digital Dreams" and even a saxophone in songs like "Runaways" and "Fatal Obsession", which is quite possibly the last instrument one may expect in songs like these, but the combinations works extremely well and gives the tracks an additional sense of character and life.
While some songs naturally stand out more than others, the album contains very consistent levels of enjoyment throughout its entire runtime, providing an especially superb listening experience when on a car drive at night in the city when all of the lights have turned on and a vibe akin to the one described of finding oneself in a cyberpunk city emerges.