8/10

Some releases feel written for crowded rooms or bright, open days, but Hayden Calnin’s 'Middle Night' is built for the hour when the world sinks into silence and the mind finally starts speaking at full volume. His new seven-track offering unfolds like a dream you only understand once you’ve woken, a collection shaped in the hush of late-night reflection where intuition takes the lead and the logical world loosens its grip.

The artist has long been a craftsman of atmosphere, but 'Middle Night' is an unfiltered version of his inner world set against a shifting backdrop of indie warmth, folk earthiness, and alt-leaning edge. These are songs that drift between grounding simplicity and wide-screen expansiveness. He traces growth with the steadiness of someone who’s lived through the shedding of old skins and has learned to step forward even when the ground is uncertain.

What makes the EP so enthralling is his willingness to finally pull a hidden curiosity into the light. Whispered fascinations with the uncanny, with what flickers just outside the visible, weave through these tracks like soft static. Nothing is heavy-handed; instead, there’s a gentle suggestion that the world is stranger and more interconnected than we often admit.

The closing track 'Take' ties the whole journey together with remarkable clarity. It’s Calnin at his most surrendered, stepping into the current rather than fighting it. There’s a recognition that life reshapes us whether we resist or lean in. It’s the kind of finale that makes you exhale without realising you were holding your breath.

As he prepares to take these songs onstage, Hayden Calnin urges us to listen to the quiet, to question what we think we know, and to move through the world with more honesty, even when it scares us. It’s a stunning release from an artist who sounds more open, more curious, and more himself than ever before.