In a cheery kick-off to the new year, The Thing are taking listeners back to a Cold War-era feel with their latest release. On Friday (January 12), the New York quartet released their latest single, “Midnight,” alongside the announcement of new album, The Thing Is, which drops February 2 via Onion Records. The new record follows 2023’s Here’s the Thing — clearly, the band name lends itself to punny albums.
The Thing have more than just fun wordplay to offer, though. “Midnight” offers erratic, high-energy guitar and a breakneck beat; it’s easy enough to get lost in the song, with a timeless sound that would fit as comfortably into a ’70s rock group as it would into a deep cut from The Strokes as it would into a 2010’s indie revival bar show. The group tackles questions of existentialism and creativity, making massive questions of life fit nicely in an earworm.
“Midnight” arose from what The Thing call “a drunken stupor,” with its central riff first arising from an at-home jam session.
“On the tail end of our most recent tour, we spent a few nights in an Airbnb in the Appalachians,” declare The Thing. “The lyrics were inspired from conversions about nuclear weapons and how our time on earth is measured by a doomsday clock countdown. We were asking existential questions and affirming our belief in a creative life. We felt the spy-like essence to the instrumental fitted that lyrical theme nicely.”
If the album-single double announcement weren’t enough, “Midnight” also premiered with an accompanying music video. Shot entirely in black and white at and around Horseman Antiques in Brooklyn, it splices together performance footage with shots of the band and company’s urban antics.
Check it out below, and take note: The Thing will be hitting the road later this winter and into the spring in support of The Thing Is, with a capstone performance right here in Boston on May 26 for the final day of Boston Calling 2024.
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