Eight years is a long time between studio albums, but Ben Poole has hardly been away. He’s kept playing shows and released live records since 2018’s Anytime You Need Me. Even so, Post Midnight Behaviour feels like a significant return. The difference is that it doesn’t sound like an attempt to pick up exactly where he left off.
When “No Second Chances” kicks in, those eight years seem to melt away. It might be about a lost love, but it could equally be about making up for lost time. Poole sounds as though he means every word of the chorus, and the playing — my God. Yet there’s a different feel to it, one that becomes clearer as the album unfolds.
The textures on “Empty” are lush, ambitious and even cinematic. “Time Has No Mercy” brings a fuzzy energy and a little soul, with the sense that Poole has pulled out all the stops. Then “Living On Repeat (Buried in the Background)” builds itself around the bass while he sings about finding a way to tear himself apart. Somehow, the guitar solo makes everything feel as though it might come right.
“Summer Haze” offers a little air. It’s warmer, lighter, and its thought of being “just a moment in time” is captured beautifully in the music. I’ve always been a sucker for a duet, too, and “Runaway Souls” with the wonderful Elles Bailey is a stomper. Both singers get something to hold on to in a song about taking back control.
That struggle runs through much of the record. On “Searching”, Poole seems intent on leaving his past behind. “Nothing To You” brings out “the darkness in me”, then explodes in what feels like a small act of defiance. When he asks, “Am I still nothing to you?”, the question lands hard. “Start Of The End” finds him among “paranoid insomniacs”, seeking some kind of redemption before the album closes with one more solo.
I mention the solos so often because Poole’s restraint is one of the best things about Post Midnight Behaviour. I’ve seen him show what a tremendous guitarist he is live. Here, he lets the guitar breathe inside the songs. It has its moments to soar, but the songs come first.
This is a late-night record: the sort you put on when your mind is racing and you can’t stop turning things over. It may be less brash than some of his earlier work, but it shows how much Poole has grown as a writer and player. Nine songs, eight years in the making, and worth the wait.
Rating: 9/10
