Beautiful Midnight is something of a conundrum in terms of its style. Most of the songs on the track are varied between uptempo rock tracks and acoustic influenced “experimental rock” tracks, yet they are all unified by a similar sound; it’s dark, airy and melodic. The opening track, “Giant” between these two styles and an excellent representation of what is to come. Lead singer Matthew Good sings passionately above soft, winding melody line during the verse that explodes during the chorus, yet never becomes overpoweringly loud. The cheerleaders in the background are a nice touch too. The CD’s other fast paced rock tracks, including “Deep Six,” “Everything is Automatic,” “The Future is X-Rated” and their very popular first single (in Canada) “Hello Time Bomb” adhere to this sound, yet all of them are refreshingly different in their style and execution. The album truly shines, however, during the softer acoustic based tracks. Some tracks begin softly, then crescendo into powerful and consuming melodies, incorporating both acoustic guitars and other instruments, including the piano, as in the case of songs like “Strange Days” and “Born to Kill.” Other tracks like “Suburbia” and “Running for Home” never accelerate or crescendo, but rather keep a steady, consuming sound relies strictly on Good’s vocal performance. Good himself, while obviously not a professionally trained singer, clearly knows how to sing in a heartfelt manner, never afraid to belt out a note when most testosterone-fueled rock stars would want to scream it. His delivery is also exceedingly dynamic, as in “Everything is Automatic,” where he alternates between soft, whispery, almost devious sounding singing and crying out as he sings the chorus. This provides a feeling of emotion that few other artists are capable of invoking. The album as a whole invokes a feeling of darkness, both restless darkness and peaceful darkness, quite true to the title; unlike most albums, “Beautiful Midnight” is neither the title of a song nor a phrase uttered in a track. And that phrase truly does sum up this album, it invokes a feeling of nighttime, and it truly is beautiful music.