Midnight Kids delineate the making of ‘Run It,’ what’s on the sonic horizon [Q&A]
After asserting their re-imaginative prowess on remixes of P!nk’s “Hurts 2B Human” and San Holo’s “Right Here Right Now,” Midnight Kids now channel their artistic energies to “Run It.” The fourth Midnight Kids-stamped single to gain a release, “Run It” broadens the duo’s stock of original productions, and as Midnight Kids disclosed to EDM All Day, it won’t be the last to do so.
The Annika Wells-assisted number is but one Midnight Kids project to make the leap from the pipeline to streaming platforms. With a queue of unreleased music eagerly awaiting rotation, Midnight Kids are poised to further expand their electronic influence in the year to come. The producers delineate how “Run It” fits into their continuously expanding catalog, the sonic moves they’ll be making in the new decade, and more in an exclusive interview with EDM All Day.
Arriving at the close of the year, “Run It” builds on a stream of singles, such as “Those Were The Days.” How, specifically, does “Run It” build on/expand the sound that you’ve developed over this past year?
We want every track to sound like it’s a step up in production quality from the last. With “Run It,” it feels like the culmination of everything we’ve worked on this past year. Great vocals, lush chords, and a rich, full soundscape are what make this record so special for us. “Run It” will give everyone an intro to the Midnight Kids world they haven’t heard or seen yet. This is a record we are very proud of and we’re so excited to see what everyone thinks of it.
How did you approach the production process of this record?
The production on this track came together incredibly fast and naturally. We were sent a batch of demo toplines and Annika’s original demo really stood out to us. We loved the way she sang the chorus. It had an incredibly bouncy, moving rhythm and we tried to preserve that as much as we could in the production process. Having such an amazing vocal to work with from the get-go made executing ideas that much easier for us.
“Run It” follows two Midnight Kids remixes: P!nk and Khalid’s “Hurts 2B Human” and “San Holo’s “Right Here Right Now.” What are the qualities of a song that attract a Midnight Kids remix, are there any particular hallmarks that you look for?
It’s sort of a case-by-case basis. The most important thing we pay attention to, though, would be the vocal. We love big and beautiful sounding vocals, really anything that is filled with tons of emotion. Most of the time, we end up building an entire new track using just the vocals for remixes, so as long as we like the vocal, we can end up making something awesome.
Your sound has a youthful, whimsical flair to it, and it’s certainly safe to say that its brought color to the electronic scene. As you continue to develop your sound over the next year, and in the extended future, are there any particular sub-genres or artistic approaches with which you hope to experiment?
We’ve explored the mid-tempo and house genres pretty thoroughly at this point, it could be cool to experiment more with halftime oriented records. We’ve been utilizing real guitar and instrument recording for quite some time now, but recently we’ve been experimenting with modular synthesis and feel it could elevate ideas to a new level creatively moving forward. Being able to physically create and manipulate sounds in the real world has infinite potential for new inspiration and ideas.
What’s in the cards for Midnight Kids in 2020, can listeners expect a long-form project?
You can expect a lot more music from us in 2020. We can’t say much at the moment, but we can say that everything you see from us for the foreseeable future is only a small part of something much bigger that we’ve been working on.
Photo credit: Tate Lumb
