This album opens with a pretty faithful rendition of “Nights in White Satin,” an interesting choice to say the least. It’s never been one of my favorite songs – in fact, I always found it pretty cheesy. But it works in the context of Midnight Movies – a female vocalist, minus the poem read during the original recording of the song. It works, at least for the opening track – I’m not convinced that the closing track, the same song sung en français, was a necessary addition. Especially to a six-song EP.
The two remixed songs – “Souveniers” remixed by Nick Zinner and “Patient Eye” remixed by James Iha – both contain a very techno/electronica beat. But where Zinner reveled in distortion, Iha mostly went without it in favor of some Eastern-sounding strings.
The other two songs on the album – “Should Have Known” and “Stormy Eyes” – both rely heavily on the use of distortion and pounding drumlines. “Should Have Known” has a vocal melody that recalls Garbage in a way. I liked both of these songs, and I wanted more original content from the EP. I guess I just feel like having two cover versions of the same song comprising a third of the album might be a bad sign – either Midnight Movies is running out of material, or they REALLY like “Knights in White Satin.” Me, not so much.