Between the blaring horns and drums, there's a quiet moment when most of Midtown Dickens and the orchestra of friends practicing along with them settle on the floor of their living room. Before going into "The Road Pt. II," Catherine Edgerton announces, "I feel like it's campfire time."
In many ways, her assessment of the band's practice for their upcoming CD release party-tomorrow at the Duke Coffeehouse-is accurate. As the sun sets outside, Christmas lights adorning the house's blue walls stand in for stars and a friendly, almost familial energy radiates around the room as the songs flood the space. They radiate a fun energy reminiscent of their 2007 debut album, Oh Yell!
But when Edgerton breaks into song, things instantly seem more somber. "We're not scared of anything/Although it's dark we have let our lanterns go," she sings.
This is the Midtown Dickens of their second album, Lanterns, more mature and a bit darker. Originally the duo of Edgerton and Kym Register, the band has changed a lot since Oh Yell! In addition to growing the roster 150 percent-they added Will Hackney, Jonathan Henderson and Michelle Preslik-as well as leaving Durham label 307 Knox Records in favor of self-releasing their sophomore album, the past two years have been a trying time for Edgerton and Register.
The name Lanterns, conceived last summer during a walk along the Eno River, reflects the revelatory experience of recording the album and their difficulties. "An objective correlative," as Hackney describes it.
"[We] realized how when you let go of something you've been depending on for a really long time-like a light-everything feels really dark and scary and there's no details," Edgerton said. "But then after.getting through that, stuff starts coming into focus and you realize you haven't been seeing anything around you because of this light that you've been clinging to which.you don't actually need it."
Each song, most written over two years ago, represents a sort of lantern for Edgerton and Register, be it a relationship, person or job. When the band finally got around to recording the album, something they initially felt ready to do years ago, Register described it as "a cathartic plunge."
"It was a hard year and the idea of recording those [songs], it was like, 'OK, this is it. All this stuff that meant so much to us back in the day, all this stuff that was like heartache and crazy s-, is now whatever,'" Register said.
And if the songs represent tribulations, the recording process was a resurgence of spirit. Recorded over six days in Charlotte with producer Scott Solter, who has worked with the Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice, the band praised the creative environment he fostered.
The fivesome lived in the studio during recording, playing with instruments and tweaking songs deep into the night. The result is a 12-track album with 20 instruments as varied as spoons, saws, banjos and, yes, lanterns. All of it recorded on tape.
That's right-Lanterns is an analog effort. The band played each song in the studio, straight through, until they got it perfect, often requiring over 20 takes. While making Midtown even tighter with the songs, Hackney said recording on tape provides the record with a vintage warmth.
"It's something that's lost on so many records nowadays because everything is so digital," he said. "If one thing messed up at the end of the take and everything else is perfect, we just did it again. It made it feel like a more classic, traditional record experience."
He added that it creates a sense of personability, which is something that pervades the whole package. Lanterns is very much a multimedia experience; the album includes both a CD and vinyl version as well as 16 pages of collages done by Edgerton, one representing each song, expanding their meanings.
But the biggest difference on Lanterns is the social aspect of the record. If Oh Yell! was a fun go at learning how to record and make music together for Register and Edgerton, Lanterns is a collaborative, do-it-together effort.
"It was really amazing to have the influences of other people.just learning other ways of playing and listening to other people's opinions," Register said.
The record is something the band is visibly proud of.
"It has a message behind it with a lot of messages we've learned over the past couple of years. It's less a collection of songs on a record and more of a piece itself. It's something I'm super excited about," Edgerton said
The whole experience for Midtown is one of great change and growth, and one they hope listeners will embrace.
"I [hope] that people still get the essence of what Midtown Dickens sounded like when it was just Kym and Catherine and can appreciate it in its new form with me, Will and Jonathan," Preslik said. "They can follow that transition, appreciate the old and embrace the new."
If the album marks a turning point for the band, a journey down a new, unlit road, it doesn't seem like this duo-turned-quintet has anything to be scared of at all.
Midtown Dickens plays the Duke Coffeehouse tomorrow, Aug. 28, with Mount Moriah and Des Ark. Doors are at 8:30 and the show begins at 9. Entry is free.
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