It’s a fact of life and music that some albums are better heard in the dark. Similar to how Smash Mouth is exclusively a hot-weather band, these three works make the most sense as nighttime albums. If you want to unlock these albums’ secrets, a warmly yet dimly lit room in the middle of the night is the perfect setting to experience their magic.
‘Mezzanine’ by Massive Attack
There couldn’t be a nighttime album list without Massive Attack’s 1998 album Mezzanine. The group’s third album was a direct result of Robert Del Naja’s desire to create a darker, more sinister aesthetic, a huge departure from the first two albums. Mezzanine is a great album in general, but listening at night elevates the experience. The creeping sense of dread woven throughout the album becomes almost alive in the dark.
A lot of Mezzanine‘s magic comes from ambient sounds, abstractness, and dark sonic texture. Its deep tones resonate like ringing bells on tracks like “Teardrop”, while “Inertia Creeps” creates the distinct feeling of being stalked through dark city streets. Overall, Mezzanine at night creates a world that’s entirely different from the one it creates in the daytime.
‘Dead Magic’ by Anna von Hausswolff
Anna von Hausswolff’s experimental composition and ethereal vocals come together to transcend music on Dead Magic. Released in 2018, this five-song album blurs every line of music, art, consciousness, and experience. And it does all this with the lights still on.
Put Dead Magic on at night, and it’ll send you to another dimension. Within the haunting organ, von Hausswolff’s warbling voice, and the offbeat percussion of a funeral march, there’s a deftly beating heart. This album radiates curiosity, twinkles with wind chimes like a child’s innocent questions. It creates a gossamer holiness that fills the room inside your head with light and sound. In the dark, Dead Magic will show you what you’ve been missing. But it won’t give it to you until you can make it to the end of the journey.
‘Perverts’ by Ethel Cain
Ethel Cain self-released her 2024 EP Perverts as a standalone project in the middle of her larger trilogy. This album explored perversion through ambient drone slowcore, recording vocals on cassettes and playing improvised, avant-garde instruments. Perverts has a distinctly DIY feeling, as does much of Ethel Cain’s music. That’s part of what makes her work so interesting. Perverts wasn’t made to be scary. But it can’t avoid its unsettling nature.
This album approaches slowly like a cataclysmic storm, preceded by green skies and the stench of wet dirt. It lurks in dark corners of unfinished basements and forgotten attics. Perverts lives in your walls. Putting this album on in the dark is like spending the night in a haunted house as a dare. You’ll emerge into the morning light with the newly gained respect of all your peers who chickened out.
Photo by Joshua Applegate/WireImage
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