"midnight again oh my old friend, I'll be seeing you"
San Mei's dream saturated Midnight is so beautiful but has dark hard edges too. The bass line that often times slides along with the synths has such a heavy contoured sound and buzz saw distortion counterpoised by San Mei's vocal aesthetic that exists somewhere between 60's torture pop, 80's new wave with twee pop affections (sort of). San Mei's aesthetic here is stuff full of whimsy and swims in fable-esque drawn places. I mean this amazingly sweet and dreamy track would of felt at home in Wolfgang Petersen's "The Never Ending Story" (1984). If you don't believe me, play it to You Tube clips of the movie. I told you so.
And ultimately it should feel magical as San Mei shares:
"I wrote Midnight after losing my dear mum. For a while, I’d wake up every single night around midnight in a panic about it, struggling to accept what I’d lost. It felt surreal, like a dream.”
San Mei is the musical moniker of Australia based singer songwriter Emily Hamilton and, for her, music can be an escapist place which is so lucky for us all. I have escaped into 'Midnight' many times over. Besides composing and being a multi-instrumentalist, Hamilton produces as well with additional production assistance by Oscar Dawson (Holy Holy, Ali Barter, Alex Lahey) and Michael McCartney. The production is exquisite and surprisingly punchy in spots as 'Midnight' is not just content to cajole sweetly but wants to rock too.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
spotify
soundcloud
San Mei AKA Emily Hamilton began her musical journey at the keys of her family piano, a consequence of a love ingrained and inherited from her dad’s favourite Beatles records and penchant for classic 60’s pop.
San Mei is enamored with the transportative nature of music, her guitar heavy, delay ridden, dreamy pop explores the hyper-blaze of existence and the intricacies of the in between.
Family and home have always been integral to Hamilton’s creative process. The daughter of Chinese-Malaysian and New Zealand born parents, her family immigrated to Australia at an early age.
Her parents, resilient and sacrificial, nurtured and encouraged her creatively, instilling in her a gift that she would lean on heavily to help diffuse and navigate the chaos of growing up and forging her identity. Using art as therapy, her songs became a conduit for escape and to shoulder the loss of her mother.
Armed with just a MIDI-keyboard and a Macbook San Mei was born. Her DIY project quickly gained groundswell and nods from national tastemakers Triple J, and further afield from heavy weights NME and NYLON.
The DNA of her creativity and pop-influencers matured, taking tips from her guitar driven heroes Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Cat Power and Feist. San Mei shrugged off the bedroom-pop producer epithet and landed in the fuzzy world of dream pop, fused with over-driven, psych tinged guitars, and atmospheric synth melodies, and this is where she found her sonic shelter.
San Mei, dream pop, indie rock, psyche pop, bedroom pop, Australia, DIY, singer songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, Chinese-Malaysian and New Zealand, "Midnight"
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