{"title":"Midnight Sister","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"painting-the-roses","title":"Painting the Roses","description":"\u003cp\u003eAs Midnight Sister, multi-disciplinary LA artists Juliana Giraffe and Ari Balouzian make motion pictures. Yes, sometimes with moving images — but most often only with the music they create together. Balouzian’s serpentine, string compositions are movie scenes that allow Giraffe, a brilliant character actor, to cloak herself in a new roles and voices. A bit of Jon Brion’s score work; some old Hollywood strings; a solid dose of glam and outsider disco from 70s independent cinema. Any perceived artifice is always matched by an indelible human fingerprint, something perfectly off. Giraffe and Balouzian’s respective work in fashion, visual art, video and film scoring — along with the gang of virtuosos with which they surround themselves — all wonderfully coalesce as Midnight Sister. And if 2017’s \u003ci\u003eSaturn Over Sunset \u003c\/i\u003ewas their collection of short films about outcast life in The San Fernando Valley, then their new album \u003ci\u003ePaining the Roses\u003c\/i\u003e is the inventive, meta motion picture that cements them as auteurs. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003ePainting the Roses\u003c\/i\u003e is in many ways a fairy tale - not so much the sweet-and-happy- ending kind as something richer, packed with imagination and rooted in the complex human messiness beneath a story’s artifice. Frontwoman Giraffe describes it as “this tightrope of being real yet synthetic, organic yet staged, light yet dark, logical yet irrational, beautiful yet dilapidated. Joyful nonsense.“ Here, disguises like masks and paint are not meant to hide but to liberate, to “set a part of us free”, and Midnight Sister often embody this themselves, appearing highly stylized, curious, warm and inviting but a little askew. \u003ci\u003ePainting the Roses \u003c\/i\u003eis a story told through the looking glass, one where we examine ourselves in a funhouse mirror but find clarity in its twists. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGiraffe traveled to visit family in Argentina during the making of the album and reconnected greatly with that part of her family history, art and culture. Balouzian created the core album opener \u003ci\u003eDoctor Says\u003c\/i\u003e during a session in the desert outside of LA. The guitar, which reminded Giraffe of South America, has a slow, sweltering surf-tango to it, like Dick Dale doing Carlos Gardel. And even though the song was inspired by Giraffe’s reconnection with Argentina, the song is about the fading of some close friendships during the making of the album. “Man, you have changed,” Giraffe sings, unclear if tis directed to a friend or to herself. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLater on the album, \u003ci\u003eWednesday Baby \u003c\/i\u003e- named after Giraffe’s rescue dog - is patient, subtly baroque pop. It follows Giraffe through one of those gloomy days spent in tunnelvision doldrums from which only a sunbathing turtle or your canine companion can pull you out. By the time collaborator Max Whipple’s saw comes beaming down from heaven in the song’s 3rd part, we’re hypnotized by the song’s charming ennui. The song lands someplace both familiar and aloof, a little slice of timelessness taken straight from The Cake of Perfect Songcraft. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jagjaguwar","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50383895069003,"sku":"1105901","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50383895265611,"sku":"1105899","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/5c45922d-d36d-495c-b1b3-13267e0f7bac_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726277765"},{"product_id":"tracks-on-delivery","title":"Tracks On Delivery","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhat started as a party series that saw \u003cstrong\u003eRoman Flugel\u003c\/strong\u003e inviting friends and favorites is turning into a full-fledged label adventure now. Shaped to be the vehicle for old and new \u003cstrong\u003eRoman Flugel\u003c\/strong\u003e music alike, unreleased surprises, and previously released sure shots from the archives, it’s the first time after his involvement in the seminal Playhouse and Klang label universe, that he tends to such an enterprise himself - with the help and support of Running Back records.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNow, the journey of \u003cstrong\u003eRoman Flügel\u003c\/strong\u003e’s own \u003cem\u003eSister Midnight\u003c\/em\u003e label starts with the valuable \u003cem\u003eTracks On Delivery\u003c\/em\u003e series. Originally released on the third jewel in the Playhouse crown (Ongaku Musik) from 2000 to 2002, it’s a meditation on and contemplation of techno. Remastered, recut, and repackaged as a triple vinyl edition with the addition of two previously unreleased Patterns. Pristine sound design, hypnotic wizardry, and dry then architecture let all of them appear as if they haven’t aged a day.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sister Midnight","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP | x3","offer_id":50474072670539,"sku":"1101773","price":37.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/3a83fdc2-7ab5-450e-909a-5fd20983df2b_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727433504"},{"product_id":"saturn-over-sunset","title":"Saturn Over Sunset","description":"\u003cp\u003eMidnight Sister - the project of intense creatives Juliana Giraffe and Ari Bazoulian - is brought to you by the isolating landscape of the San Fernando Valley - its colours, diners, lunatics and neon lights. Both lifelong residents of this storied valley, Giraffe and Bazoulian have only become more inspired by the area’s mythology over the years: its two-faced magical wonderland and tragic circus. Their debut, \u003ci\u003eSaturn Over Sunset\u003c\/i\u003e, works almost as an album version of Altman’s \u003ci\u003eShortcuts\u003c\/i\u003e, each song a character study of the valley’s odd personae. Giraffe, 23, the daughter of an LA disc jockey, was raised almost exclusively on disco and Bowie. Her lyrics and lyrical melodies, informed very much by her film-making background, were composed gazing out from a tiny retail window on Sunset Boulevard. Her \u003ci\u003eRear Window\u003c\/i\u003e - like longing allowed her imagination to run wild and cook up the wild narratives that would fill Balouzian’s compositions. Balouzian, 27, is classically trained and already a go-to arranger for odd-pop names like Tobias Jesso Jr. and Alex Izenberg. Midnight Sister represents a first for both of them. It’s Giraffe’s first time writing and performing music and it’s Balouzian’s first foray into playing true pop music. \u003ci\u003eSaturn Over Sunset\u003c\/i\u003e is a shared musical vision of Hollywood’s oddest corners. It is the baroque, eldritch alley you must pass through to find the speakeasy night of your life. You’ll come out bleary-eyed and the sunrise will be pouring all pink and orange through the smog and palm trees.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCD - 6-panel wallet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLP - Limited edition Neptune Blue Vinyl with Download.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jagjaguwar","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":51007273795915,"sku":"1015530","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/92e11077-d6fb-4bc9-8f15-37e8467db45e_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1735048732"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/midnight-sister.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}