Dork
  • Music News
    • Latest News
    • Album Release Schedule
  • Features
    • Features & Interviews
    • Artist Guides
    • In Photos
  • New Music
    • Hype
    • Hype News
    • Hype Features & Interviews
    • Hype Reviews
  • Playlists
    • Playlists
    • Dork Playlist
    • The Cut
    • Hype
      • Cover Story
      • Hype Playlist
  • Reviews
    • Album & EP Reviews
    • Live Reviews
  • Radio
    • Home
    • Shows
      • Down With Boring
    • Playlist
    • Listen Again
    • Podcast
      • Apple Podcasts
      • Spotify
      • Google Podcasts
      • Stitcher
      • aCast
      • TuneIn
  • Magazine
    • Latest Issue
    • Back Issues
    • Print Subscriptions
    • Print + Digital Subscriptions
  • Shop
  • Supporters
    • Support Dork
    • Supporter Only Content
    • Digital Library
HTML5 RADIO PLAYER PLUGIN WITH REAL VISUALIZER powered by Sodah Webdesign Dexheim
Dork
  • Music News
    • Latest News
    • Album Release Schedule
  • Features
    • Features & Interviews
    • Artist Guides
    • In Photos
  • New Music
    • Hype
    • Hype News
    • Hype Features & Interviews
    • Hype Reviews
  • Playlists
    • Playlists
    • Dork Playlist
    • The Cut
    • Hype
      • Cover Story
      • Hype Playlist
  • Reviews
    • Album & EP Reviews
    • Live Reviews
  • Radio
    • Home
    • Shows
      • Down With Boring
    • Playlist
    • Listen Again
    • Podcast
      • Apple Podcasts
      • Spotify
      • Google Podcasts
      • Stitcher
      • aCast
      • TuneIn
  • Magazine
    • Latest Issue
    • Back Issues
    • Print Subscriptions
    • Print + Digital Subscriptions
  • Shop
  • Supporters
    • Support Dork
    • Supporter Only Content
    • Digital Library
  • Album & EP Reviews

Middle Kids – Today We’re The Greatest

  • Edie McQueen
  • March 18, 2021

Label: Lucky Number
Released: 19th March 2021


‘Today We’re The Greatest’, the second album from Sydney-based pop-rockers Middle Kids, has cemented their status as a force to be reckoned with, building on their earlier efforts with confidence and bold instrumental takes.

The album feels like a montage of your last good summer, flitting through influences whilst retaining the rock underbelly that will see them headline festivals. Never has vulnerability felt so complete, never fragility so assured; the album explores beyond itself, incorporating the tweeting of birds, the patter of rain, and even the beating heart of members’ Hannah Joy and Tim Fitz’s unborn son, taken from a sonogram. In doing so, the record yawns wide open, displaying startling intimacy and a reassuring affinity with the natural world.

Scattered influences and fractious anxieties swarm and come together like Tetris, slotting together throughout the record whilst remaining independently notable. The addition of a banjo on ‘Lost in Los Angeles’, a track conceived in the mundanity of a morning shower’, sees the band lean into folk influences, adding a soulful, contemplative feel.

The late-night exuberance of ‘I Don’t Care’, co-written by CHVRCHES’ Martin Doherty, spills forth from the stark emotional plaintiveness of ‘Run With You’. The Smiths influenced ‘Some People Stay In Our Hearts Forever’ calls out as an apology to past loves, elegiac vocals crying out over lively, jangling guitars. The whole effect is seamless, culminating in the anthemic title-track, ‘Today We’re The Greatest’, a perfect pitch slice of piano balladry that builds and builds in a triumphant climax.

This is a considered and accomplished album that sees Middle Kids truly step into their light, boasting a multitude of inspirations that unites in their best work yet.

Edie McQueen
4.0 rating
4/5
Total Score
Related Topics
  • Middle Kids
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Music News

Ben Howard has announced a huge 2023 UK and European tour

  • March 20, 2023
View Post
  • Features

Sabrina Carpenter: Pop hits

  • March 22, 2023
View Post
  • Music News

Somerset House Summer Series announce 2023 line up, including Beabadoobee and Olivia Dean

  • March 21, 2023
Latest issue
Latest
    • Music News
    FLO release their first single of 2023, ‘Fly Girl’ featuring Missy Elliot
    • Music News
    Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard are back with a song for their dog, ‘Chew’
    • Music News
    Grouplove have announced a new album ‘I Want It All Right Now’, share double A-side
    • Music News
    Body Type have dropped their new single ‘Holding On’ – listen
    • Music News
    Hannah Jadagu shares new single ‘Warning Sign’ – listen

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get pop nonsense to your inbox.

Dork
  • Contact
  • Jobs
  • Privacy
© 2016-2021 The Bunker Publishing Ltd

Input your search keywords and press Enter.