Midland will release their highly anticipated sophomore album, Let It Roll, this Friday, and Mark Wystrach describes the project as both a continuation and an evolution of their first album, On the Rocks. “From On the Rocks, we’ve all three, as individuals, have grown. As musicians and songwriters, we’ve grown, which comes from living, which comes from practicing, which comes from playing and experiencing. And that’s what Let It Roll is to us. I think, it’s a continuation but it’s an evolution, and I think that’s what you’re seeing in the songs.”
Fans will still hear the signature throwback sound of Midland that they were introduced to on their debut album, and Jess Carson says that has a lot to do with the music they listen to and are inspired by and love. “We love music history, and not just in country music, you know, rock and roll and blues and jazz and old American Songbook stuff. We just kind of listen to everything, and we listen to what we think is the best music ever made. You know, a lot of the music that we think is the best music ever made happens to come from a certain time period.”
But Jess clarifies that the uniqueness of Midland’s sound comes from the fact that they listen to modern music as well, and they’re never trying to simply recreate sounds from the past. He says, “We live in 2019 so if we write a song it may be influenced by whatever we’re listening to, but it’s got to have us in it, you know, it’s got to be personal to us and it’s got to be from the heart. So it’s never just going to be a rehashing of an old song or an old thing.”
Let It Roll is a combination of new songs Midland wrote specifically for this project, and old songs they’ve had in their catalog that they weren’t ready or able to record before now. Mark explains, “We’ve had a large catalog of songs that are dating back to The Sonic Ranch Sessions, which is the first time the three of us got together to record demos, which was five years ago this summer. And there’s songs that we maybe didn’t know how to approach back then, that we’d been playing in our live set for a long time. You know, songs like ‘Fourteen Gears,’ ‘Gettin’ the Feel,’ those have been around for a long time.”
But Midland also spent a lot of time writing new material for the 14-song project, all of which they wrote or co-wrote. And even though the songs come from different time periods in their career, Mark says, “There’s a linear thread that ties through and a theme I think, that really, is being on the road – perhaps the strains that puts on various relationships.”
Let It Roll features Midland’s current hit, “Mr. Lonely.” The band will kick off their Let It Roll Tour on September 17th in New York City.
Midland – album is an evolution :22
Mark Wystrach – “From On the Rocks, we’ve all three, as individuals, have grown. As musicians and songwriters, we’ve grown, which comes from living, which comes from practicing, which comes from playing and experiencing. And that’s what Let It Roll is to us, I think, it’s a continuation but it’s an evolution, and I think that’s what you’re seeing in the songs.”
Midland – all new songs or mix :41
Mark Wystrach – “We’ve had a large catalog of songs that are dating back to The Sonic Ranch Sessions, which is the first time the three of us got together to record demos, which was five years ago this summer. And there’s songs that we maybe didn’t know how to approach back then, that we’d been playing in our live set for a long time. You know, songs like ‘Fourteen Gears,’ ‘Gettin’ the Feel,’ those have been around for a long time. And some of the stuff was new and written while we’ve been on the road touring On the Rocks. We haven’t stopped touring and moving, basically for the last three years. So it’s an amalgamation of all the songs, but there’s a linear thread that ties through and a theme I think, that really, is being on the road – perhaps the strains that puts on various relationships and you’re gonna hear a lot of that.
Midland – accessing roots of country music :46
Jess Carson – “We love music history, and not just in country music, you know, rock and roll and blues and jazz and old American Songbook stuff. We just kind of listen to everything and we listen to what we think is the best music ever made. You know, a lot of the music that we think is the best music ever made happens to come from a certain time period. And we do listen to modern music as well. We’re not pretending that it’s a certain time period and you’re just ignoring everything else. We listen to modern music we try to keep in touch with what’s going on. And we live in 2019 so if we write a song it may be influenced by whatever we’re listening to, but it’s got to have us in it, you know, it’s got to be personal to us and it’s got to be from the heart. So it’s never just going to be a rehashing of an old song or an old thing.”