TANIMURA MIDNIGHT, “a compositional duo that channels the feelings of the far east and John Carpenter action films with a swathe of neon in an obsidian sushi-restaurant nestled amongst skyscrapers”, has returned with its new full length Tears Disappeared In The Night in late October. The record marked their first release since 2015’s Ruby Dare and dives even deeper into the dramatic and guitar-laden approach to synth-wave. With a love of 80’s cinema scores, 8-bit gamer soundtracks and influences like AIR, TANIMURA MIDNIGHT is the perfect accompaniment for Reagan era tech-noir film thrillers. The record is easily their best releases thus far and the new VHS music video below proves them to be able to extend beyond the headphones, enthral you with its layers and let you inhale some fine retro synths baked into one breathtaking journey. Watch below.
Shelby Cinca of TANIMURA MIDNIGHT commented on the song and music video:
This track is the first track I wrote for the album and the one that set the tone for the rest of the album. It’s interesting that out of all the songs it still ended up as track 1 but I feel like it captured the initial inspiration of being a follow-up to the first Tanimura Midnight song I had guitar on which is the track “Wrong Number” from the Ruby Dare EP. It really took me years to figure out how to integrate guitar with my electronic music compositions— which is one of the reason I stopped doing electronic shows (as Triobelisk) back in 2010. Being from a punk rock background I just couldn’t get as into pushing buttons and needed something more physical and now I finally feel like I figured it out. I would even say a lot of the guitar playing and approaches weren’t too far off with what I would do with Frodus on the last album we released back in 2001 “And We Washed Our Weapons In The Sea”.
With the video, Initially I imagined doing something more directed with some actors but this came together out of circumstance when an artist on my label, Brahm, actually sent me the first 10 seconds of the video while he was messing around matching the music to footage. I riffed on that and included some ninja/crime video game footage and footage of myself playing guitar to round it out. Over time I have developed a style of this kind of video collage with the videos I made for other label artists Jean Miche and Nounverber (watch both videos below) – and my brain has started to piece together this type of footage for loose narratives. If I could I would have a video for every track but alas, didn’t have the time!
“Tanimura Midnight have taken their admiration for 80’s cinema scores, 8-bit gamer soundtracks, and Air to soaring heights. Deeper waves of synth, dramatic guitars conjure up classic tech-noir film soundtracks vibes.” — GhettoBlaster Magazine
Originally a purely synth duo including Nick Anderson (Aloha, Title Tracks), Tanimura Midnight is now under the full guidance of Shelby Cinca. To many Cinca will be forever revered for his 90’s and early millennium work in DC punk/emo outfits Frodus and Decahedron. Now Cinca has incorporated both live guitar and bass playing to add to the project’s sound.
As one of Swedish Columbia Records “Synthwave October” releases, the cassette version of the album appears in the labels’ Mock-VHS 80’s packaging (pictured below). Over the last few years the project has developed global recognition for scoring a live action video for the Playstation 3 gaming hit, Hotline Miami 2. Perfectly fitting the retro vice aesthetic of that game.
