Mid City Walk Us Through Their Debut Album, ‘Happy Ever After’

Melbourne’s MID CITY, known for their soaring melodies and brilliantly crafted indie rock hits, has garnered a devoted following both in Australia and beyond, and it’s no mystery why. Their music strikes deep at the core, guided by Joel Griffith’s emotionally charged vocals and fortified by impeccably arranged rhythms and riffs, each release pushing the boundaries of their artistic prowess. Over the past few years, this four-piece outfit has meticulously honed their sound, first through two EPs and more recently via a series of impactful singles that have been eagerly embraced by their loyal fanbase and the music industry alike.

This culmination of their journey has brought them to an exciting juncture—the highly anticipated release of their debut album, aptly named “HAPPY EVER AFTER.” This album, featuring eleven songs filled with euphoria, chronicles their experiences of life on the road and against the backdrop of tumultuous years. “HAPPY EVER AFTER” stands as a shining testament to MID CITY as a collective, embarking on its most ambitious creative phase yet.

To celebrate the release, Mid City walks us through the new album and takes us deeper into the meaning behind each track.

Happy Ever After – The one song we could all wholeheartedly agree on. The glue of the album and an altogether snappy title for the record as a whole. This song truly came together when we, after seemingly working on it forever, had this breakthrough moment where we decided to try the first verse and chorus stripped back to essentially just keys and vocals. For this reason, it all of a sudden felt like the perfect opener.

Compromise – This record was our attempt at making a balanced listen. Rock enough, soft, fastballs and curveballs, overly sensitive to overly big dumb and fun. Compromise is all big dumb fun. Inspired by the thought of playing on big festival stages. We had three or so cracks at this type of tune and this one stood out.

Choc Mint – Have another fastball. This was one of the first tracks we wrote for the record that really shrugged us out of a covid malaise. We’d finish playing it in the room together and all look around at each other wondering what beast we’d created.

Car Wreck – A curveball from Joel that took everyone else a long time to allay suspicion with. Can Mid City actually play slower than 150bpm? Can they put swing into their songs? …sort of.

Change Your Mind – Our ‘journey man’ song and probably the biggest heart-on-sleeve chorus of the album. We really can’t hide the meaning of this one. Fun fact: Based on a jingle Joel once pitched to a cruise ship company.

Someone Like You – Curveball #2. Ben hit a very melancholic patch sometime in early 2022 and wrote this plaintive guitar line that broke Joel’s heart open and all his secrets poured out. In the spirit of great british indie and featuring one ‘Joel’s Older Brother’ on amazing second verse harmonies.

Emily – This is probably the oldest song on the record. It might even predate the main writing sessions. It’s our towering power ballad to late night love sickness. And yes Emily, it’s actually about you.

Strangers – Written in the depths of a Joel Breakupville about adjusting to a world without your buddy. It’s not the greatest time to look back on but does have an amazing reprise in the final chorus – if we do say so ourselves – that makes it all a little more palatable.

Lover Again – Could this be a hint of the new minimal tech direction we’ll take on the next record? Probably not. But the sentiment and layered vocals is a nice reprieve from the sheer volume of volume we’ve put your through on this record so far.

Red Lights – We had a few talks about how it’s sad that some great albums we love end with muted energy so we saved our biggest festival sing-along for the closer.

Mid City’s debut album, Happy Ever After is available now, everywhere.