Midnight Youth, a Kiwi rock band, have produced a commercially apt album with The Brave Don’t Run.

Joining the scores of other Pop-Rock bands circulating the charts, Midnight Youth have gained quite a following down in New Zealand. Their debut release could be compared with the likes of British India, Gyroscope or Birds of Tokyo. But, in some ways, Midnight Youth should be perceived in a much more favourable light than those artists. 

Within its genre, The Brave Don’t Run should be celebrated as a stunning success, particularly for a debut release! Though the quintet have been together since ’06, they didn’t release this album until 2009. Packed with heavy guitar and melodic vocals, ‘The Brave Don’t Run’ features two top 20 singles from the New Zealand charts, ‘The Letter’ and ‘All On Our Own’. Both are particularly strong rock-pop tracks that would not struggle to find playtime on the commercial radio stations in Australia. However, the stand out track is definitely ‘Benjamin’. This song kicks off with a cheeky piano riff, before breaking out into a heavy, catchy chorus. Falling about halfway through the record, ‘Benjamin’ is certainly a refreshing segway from the decent, but somewhat banal, guitar based anthems scattered throughout most of the album.

As a whole, the album listens very well. At a nice, concise 41 minutes, Midnight Youth have still managed to show-off their musical credentials with ease. Furthermore, they have provided a pretty extensive variety of tunes while still maintaining the pop-rock vibe: there are ballads, anthems, and even a hint of a synthesizer in one track. For fans of the abovementioned bands of comparison, this album is a real winner. For the rest of us, though it’s nothing life-changing, it’s still pretty good.

Review Score: 7/10