Today we’re pleased to bring you a western-tinged track from Michael Sackler-Berner.
It’s “Midnight Crisis” the b-side of the first release in a series of digital 45s (with both a- and b-sides), which will culminate in Michael Sackler-Berner’s double EP release due out February 11th, 2015.
This song perfectly expresses that feeling of desperate realization that things just are not gonna go as planned.
Sackler-Berner’s haunting, intense vocal coupled with a driving rhythm guitar and shaker backbone and some twangy intertwined lead lines easily echo the feel of the lyric. As Sackler-Berner so eloquently shares, “The future ain’t what it used to be.”
But don’t get me wrong, this toe tapper somehow comes across with a certain optimism, and if you don’t dig too deep into this sad affair, it’ll leave you feeling ready for more.
Sackler-Berner shares some background on the song, “I was scheduled for a daytime writing session with producer Leo Sidran at my studio here in Brooklyn. Leo lives about fifteen minutes away, and I was familiar with his credits, but I had never met him. About ten minutes before he buzzed upstairs I was futzing around on my old Silvertone and found that descending guitar lick.
“After a quick ‘nice to meet you,’ I played him the lick. He thought it was good enough to write a song around. He picked up my old (1955) Gibson J-160E, which has been on all my records, and we scratched out the lyrics and structure in about a half an hour. Then we cut a basic track together with guitar and drums. I overdubbed the slide guitar solo and then vocals. The shaker you hear on the track is actually a string of dried out cocoons I shook around.
“I think whatever vibe a song is suited for, should be fully committed to. We landed on a swampy, dark, bayou road trip feel — probably because I was watching True Detective at the time! I have a not-so-closet fantasy that this tune will show up in some sort of Southern Gothic movie or TV program one day.
“I like the title a lot because even if you aren't an insomniac, or unable to sleep because of a scary TV show like True Detective, you can relate to a midnight crisis. Who hasn't been unable to fall asleep when the wheels keep spinning?”