Middle Kids Perform on The Late Late Show With James Corden

MIDDLE KIDS PERFORM ON THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN SOPHOMORE ALBUM TODAY WE’RE THE GREATEST OUT NOW VIA DOMINO RECORDS

Last Friday Middle Kids released their stunning sophomore album Today We’re The Greatest to critical acclaim around the world. Last night they played the album’s title track on The Late Late Show With James Corden, delivering an uplifting performance.    The album was also featured by NPR in their New Music Friday podcast who raved about the band saying "They have a real gift for making melancholic sound euphoric". It was also the feature record for triple j, Rolling Stone Australia and more.      Praise for Today We’re The Greatest…. "Middle Kids’ “Cellophane (Brain)” previews the trio’s upcoming album Today We’re The Greatest in grand fashion: an emotionally affecting distorted guitar is used to showcase inner struggle, just as the song twists and turns to an ultimate crescendo." - Billboard   “Sweet, triumphant love songs” - The Guardian   “With the release of Today We’re The Greatest, the Aussie pop-rock trio leads with vulnerability in hopes of helping others to know themselves better.” - FLOOD   “This is what Middle Kids do best. Big songs about big emotions.” - Under The Radar   "Today We’re The Greatest still contains those effortless high points. But this time around, the peaks are often the culmination of songs featuring contemplative lyrics given much more room to breathe by the music.” - American Songwriter   “On Today We’re the Greatest, they make great music sound effortless" - Paste Magazine   “Today We’re The Greatest is quietly revelatory. Its a record that eloquently and and sometimes painful weaves tales of emotional complexity that crush and uplift in equal measure” - Rolling Stone Australia    “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. 4/5” - Dork    "Today We’re The Greatest delivers nostalgia and self-reflection, bundled with a sense of optimism that is realistic rather than sugar-coated" - Line of Best Fit - 8/10   “A joyous slice of optimism...” – CLASH

(Photo credit: Ellen Virgona)

On Today We’re The Greatest, Hannah Joy has pulled directly from her own experiences - and broken down boundaries she’d previously set for herself. “Historically I’ve written a lot of conceptual lyrics,” she says. “Stepping into this album, I wanted to allow myself to go and write and not feel like I had any barriers to do so. I’m interested in finding the best music I can, but if I’m not willing to put skin in the game, then I’m not actually free.”

Recorded in Los Angeles in October 2019 with producer Lars Stalfors (St. Vincent, Soccer Mommy, Cold War Kids), Middle Kids (Hannah Joy, Tim Fitz and Harry Day) relished in exploring the space between smoldering intensity and an explosive vivacity that never burns out of control; from the brassy climax of “Questions” to the starkly confessional quality of “Some People Stay in Our Hearts Forever” and the insistent gallop of “R U 4 Me?.” They heard potential in unlikely places, as Fitz used a pair of scissors as a percussion instrument on “Summer Hill” and repurposed a recording of birds chirping in a rain shower that he captured at their old home in Sydney for “Golden Star.”   Album opener “Bad Neighbours,” a plaintive slow-burner, represents this shift in their sound, and one in their working dynamic as well: Joy has always been Middle Kids’ primary wordsmith, but Fitz wrote most of the lyrics for the melancholy tune, which was informed by a traumatic event from Joy’s childhood. “It was like he was giving me permission to go there, and he also [gave] actual speech to feeling, which I think was very profound for me,” she recalls.    “In Hannah’s songs there’s a real vulnerability and at times a volatility that came through in [Lost Friends],” says Day. “But I feel like it came through even more in this album.”   Given the massive changes Joy went through as she was working on Today We’re The Greatest, it’s easy to see -- and hear -- why. Beyond her baby’s heartbeat cameo on “Run With You,” Joy’s journey to motherhood and her marriage with Fitz has imbued her love songs with a vibrancy that’s unabashedly romantic yet free of clichés. “Stacking Chairs,” with its unique allegories and Joy’s sunny vocals, strikes this delicate balance beautifully: it’s a testament to her deep connection with Fitz and the new, “infinitesimal” love that transformed their lives with their son’s arrival.   “A few years ago, I would’ve been like, ‘I can’t write a love song!’ I think it’s because love was still too tinny, too shallow for me to actually understand where I was at personally,” she says. “‘Stacking Chairs’ is a great example of that: I’m understanding love more, and I’m still a tiny, stupid idiot. But I’m going, ‘That’s something worth fighting for, and something worth celebrating, too!’”.

Today We’re The Greatest is the open, uninhibited product of fearless collaboration: these breakthroughs wouldn’t have occurred had Joy not pushed herself to plumb new, personal depths in her lyrics, or if Fitz and Day hadn’t completed them with their instrumental flourishes. From the first note to the closing title track, Middle Kids are building on the strong foundation of Lost Friends while exploring the possibilities and beautiful contradictions in every note.    “It can be easier to live dualistically” says Joy, “splitting the world in two. We want to be able say it’s this or it’s that, but sometimes it’s both -- and can we hold both? Can we hold the brokenness? Can we hold the beauty? That has definitely been a defining bit of this album, the fragility in that dance.”

Track-list 1. Bad Neighbours 2. Cellophane (Brain) 3. R U 4 Me? 4. Questions 5. Lost in Los Angeles 6. Golden Star 7. Summer Hill 8. Some People Stay In Our Hearts Forever 9. Run With You 10. I Don't Care 11. Stacking Chairs 12. Today We’re The Greatest

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