TRCK REVIEW: Unique - Midnight Sky
“Right Ear”
...and one refracts with rippling waters, each fleeting angle another illusion of depth. Unique’s departure had also developed speculation regarding the future of his career. Aside from a vague Twitter statement regarding his departure, Unique remained radio silent about the issue. A silence soon filled with numerous teasers, a label signing announcement, and all the words a thesaurus can muster. Unique had postured himself to be the young kid with knowledge beyond his years. These series of nebulous pretensions soon came to a peak with the release of the music video for “Midnight Sky”, released just 11 minutes after the release of “In My Prison” by IV of Spades.
“Midnight Sky” is a full realization of the demo Unique had released on his SoundCloud account a year ago, the term “realization” being an overstatement. The song features a clearer vocal recording and a prominent clean tone electric guitar in lieu of the acoustic. Despite the sonic upgrade, the minimalist setup falls short from the expectations laid out by the wave of teasers released by their camp. With little to no variation throughout the four minute runtime, the track fails to engage even when approached from different perspectives. Tuning out and listening to the track as a nocturnal mood piece only ended up in disappointment; even ambient albums would have done a better job of keeping the listener awake and engaged. Attempting to dissect the song for any deeper meaning would also lead to disappointment; at its core this is a played out song about longing laid over a minimalist soundscape. Whatever little there is to unpack reveals the content being disproportionately inferior to its packaging.
“Midnight Sky” fails to live up to the labyrinthine musings and indeterminate still frames preceding its release. One could only speculate the reasons for the track falling short. Maybe it was due to time pressure, knowing that IV of Spades could overshadow Unique’s budding momentum at any moment by releasing new material. However, releasing it almost exactly the same time as “In My Prison” only comes off as petty, a move that can’t even be justified with the quality of “Midnight Sky”. Perhaps maybe the two entities are in cahoots, and this is but an elaborate publicity stunt to increase tension. Color me indifferent, I can see the hypothetical plot unfolding: passive beef, to be followed with forgiveness and maybe a short reunion in some live shows. Exciting tabloid material, but a sad state of affairs for musical quality. Whatever the reasons may be, the best course of action for both artists at the moment is to actually begin in writing noteworthy music.
[both reviews written by Sopas]