Middle Kids And Their Journey In And Out of Faith
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You have probably heard their music before, rocking out at a party with Triple J on in the background or while watching Ted Lasso, perhaps watching them open for Gang of Youths on their iconic Australian tour in 2022 and Dermont Kennedy in late 2023, but they are back with a new era proving that they are rock experts that aren’t going anywhere. Just released today, their third album Faith Crisis Pt 1 explores the question itself, deep diving into songwriter Hannah Joy’s thoughts and experiences as she tries to find what faith really means to her.
Last year I got to sit down and chat with the Joy herself and dig into the details of this album. Faith Crisis Pt 1 “Came off the back of COVID which wasn’t a very fruitful time creatively” says Joy, with personal factors of having their first child 6-weeks pre-pandemic and navigating the world shutting down, it became rather chaotic for Joy and her family where she “felt very beyond myself with such lack of control”. In terms of faith, believing in a higher power was never second-guessed for Joy, however that period of her life “was rather confronting leading to a lot of questions around what is true, and how faith isn’t aligning with a lot of those experiences we had”. Similarly the “boys also felt similar notions at the time”, bringing everyone on the same page for this album.
I spent almost a week listening to the album front-to-back on multiple occasions and there were so many lyrics, metaphors, instrumentals and storylines that struck me at different times. That’s the beauty of Faith Crisis Pt 1, there is always a different moment in the album that will stick with you no matter where you are at the time.
‘Dramamine’ includes this lyric which really stood out to me - “I used to be the kid who never wanted to be seen, let people jump all over me, the human trampoline” and “you are the only reason I believe in anything”. I asked Joy to dive into this further in which she shared how ‘Dramamine’ “created this world picturing two people where one finds someone they really love which is really whimsical, where their relationship felt so safe”. In a time of such loss and lack of clarity, the track escapes you to a world where there is someone or something there for you keeping you safe.
‘The Blessings’ follows with an Interlude which is such an incredible transition between the songs, allowing time to take a breath and move on. Created after making a demo and recording ‘The Blessings’, the band wrote this interlude inspired by the the recent creation of the track. “‘The Blessings’ is such an intense song and we were really stoked to have a few instrumentals in there and loved the idea of having moments of respite throughout the album because music itself without lyrics can say so much. You can say so much without words and listen and reflect sitting in the music.”
There is a strong British Pop/Rock influence in Faith Crisis Pt 1. Amongst living in the UK and working with collaborators/producers John Gilmore (The 1975, Nothing But Theives and Carly Rae Jepsen) and Tim Fitz, Middle Kids felt that “it was only natural that (they) were drawn to that sound”.
Whilst there are strong pop anthems, there are slower country-like songs including ‘Bootleg Firecracker’ in which Joy sings “you would rather fight a losing battle than to live with me in my shadow”. Joy explains how “a lot of that song is about trying to regain faith, when you are vulnerable and willing to take risks, you do tend to endup getting hurt, and myself personally have felt very guarded and never wanted to take those risks which did end up feeling more isolating. So there was a yearning of wanted to be vulnerable and take risks. This also links to belief, rather fighting to believe in something good and true than not.”
On the sad song note, ‘Bend’ was another track that stood out to me, you can feel Joy let her guard down, pour out her emotions whilst being ‘one bend away’ from breaking point. Explaining the story behind this song being “written at the time whilst filming a movie”, Joy was feeling rather isolated living alone in a hotel room and naturally “let out the overwhelming factors of life pour out in onoe go”. Despite having had everything written for the record at the time, “there was a lot of back-and-forth, debating whether or not the band include this on the album, but we are very glad we did”
Concluding the album is the final track ‘All In My Head. Featuring Gang Of Youths frontman Dave Le’aupepe who also brought Middle Kids on tour with them in 2022. “This song was written quite a few years ago originally recorded as a full band song” said Joy “but never really landed in the way we wanted it to. Letting it sit for a couple years, we revisited the album and Tim had the idea of wanting to strip it back a little bit” and this is where Dave came into the picture in which “he played a great role in supporting us throughout our journey as musicians, with his stunning voice it was really special to have him on the song, and it came together so smoothly. It was a really lovely, full-circle way to close out the album.”
Listening to the band over the last couple years, there is no doubt the band has truly found their groove and grown as artists. With the album out in the world today, their only hope is that the power of Joy and the band sharing their stories through music “ will allow listeners to connect with us in their own way so far. I hope our privilege of writing and releasing music will reach people in some way, even if its only a few people.”
Make sure you stream/buy the album here and check out more info on how to snag tickets to their recently announced tour here.
