Head over to your local corner store, grab yourself some beers, and sit back and press play on Midnight Store by Donor Lens.
Midnight Store was inspired by a real corner store in Cardiff, UK, where Donor Lens duo Thom and Jay frequent to pick up their weekend beers. They built the album around the concept of an evening of frequent visits to the Midnight Store – “a surreal 24-hour shop stocked with essentials and intoxicants” – an evening that grew increasingly hazy as it progressed. The album features field recordings from convenience shops around the globe, adding atmosphere to the concept of the album.
Not long ago I drifted over to vaporwave-land and have yet to return. What I find most magical about the style is it’s unpredictability. It keeps my brain guessing, snaps it out of the mundane. On Midnight Store, Donor Lens teases the listener with vocal samples, break beats, bass lines, synth melodies, atmosphere, and emotion, none too much, none too little, all bundled in an authentic, earthy shell.
No doubt this exquisite display of vaporwave grew out of Thom’s and Jay’s musical history, which started during childhood. Thom studied classical clarinet and jazz drums before beginning to explore electronic music. Jay began learning classical guitar as a child but quickly shifted gears toward the music of his youth, such as rock, metal, and emo. The duo brings traditional session skills playing keys, bass, and guitar together with the plunderphonics that vaporwave is deeply rooted in to create a richly textured and organic soundscape that is open to interpretation
Midnight Store plays like a suspended state of equilibrium and closes out quite appropriately with what feels like the sun hazily peaking through the curtains after a long night of repeated visits to the Midnight Store. The album was aptly described by the band as exploring “in-between spaces and contemplation – finding yourself in an airport lounge, a 24-hour convenience store, or a Zoom call with poor connection.”
The cover art is worthy of display, created by Tropical Virtual, depicting the Midnight Store against a deserted backdrop. My Pet Flamingo released the album as a split blue and transparent vinyl LP, as well as on cassette, mini-disc, and digital. The back cover art spells out the song titles across an image of an aisle from within the store underneath a glass ceiling through which clouds scattered across a big, bright blue sky are displayed.
Donor Lens said their album titles suggest “places as purgatory,” including debut release Miracle Lounge. Midnight Store opens with the title track, instantly transporting the listener to the store itself. It features big beats, deep bass, and is heavy on emotional tones delivered, in part, by an intoxicating melody and, in part, by Jana Tyrell’s vocals sung in mysterious fashion, “If you step right through the door, there’s everything you need and more…in the midnight store.” Thom of Donor Lens said the songs are mostly about mundane, ordinary things, stating “I don’t think music inspired by boredom is inherently boring.” Midnight Store is vibrant, nuanced, and full of intrigue.
Many songs on Midnight Store have strong dance elements, such as “Freedom of Choice” and “One Stop Shop,” a track on which break beats shine as do keys, nightclub beats, and robotic vocal effects.
“Mirinda” also showcases dance beats, a splash of future funk, trance, all paired with psychedelic bass lines and vocal samples that play quite distant to the ear yet are integral to the song.
Heavy, melodic bass also shines on Midnight Store, perhaps most prominent on “Turn the Fridge On” which pairs big, catchy bass lines with higher pitched melodies that elicit that sense of following yourself from behind.
Donor Lens makes a habit of creating emotion and a feeling of disorientation by bringing together vocal effects, minimalist synth melodies, interlaced with break beats at unpredictable moments, such as on “Shelves Stacked High.”
“Konbini 24-7” plays like time looping over itself, featuring vocal samples, uplifting beats, and dreamy melodies that dance across the backdrop of an open space all together create a cinematic feel as if the listener is the actor in the movie on the screen.
The organic textures on Midnight Store give it unparalleled depth. On “Another Night Astray,” for example, jazzy bass lines and vocal effects together create a feeling of floating adrift yet having feet firmly planted.
“Aisles and Aisles” features a catchy, purposeful melody, penetrating bass, and tight, fresh beats, all alongside Jana Tyrell’s vocals that play like one instrument in an orchestra of sounds. She softly and synthetically sings, “Identical aisles, stretch for miles…inside the midnight store.” The repetition in the song feels like a noisy fractal through time, never tiring.
“Spirit Receiver” properly brings Midnight Store to a close. It plays like it’s time to lay down, close your eyes, and let the evening come to an end as DATAGIRL graces us singing “Receive my soul,” drawn out over erratic beats and samples surfacing sporadically. The song was named after a spirit receiver, which is a device used in the process of making whiskey, of which the Donor Lens duo are both drinkers of. Donor Lens said, “It’s up to the listener if they want to interpret our song as a tragic end, or just somebody feeling so hungover that they just feel like death.”