Middle Kids: The Confidence of Crisis
What happens when you lose your understanding of the world? It’s a big question – one that indie darlings Middle Kids attempt to answer with their third album, Faith Crisis Pt 1.
Words by Zara Richards | Images by Pooneh Ghana
“I’ve always been a naturally existential person,” confesses Middle Kids’ vocalist Hannah Joy. It’s 5pm on a Friday when she delivers this statement, and despite its slightly angsty sentiment, the Sydney-based singer is nothing but warm and inviting. Is there some end-of-work-week energy rippling through this interview? Perhaps, but we reckon there’s also a great deal of joy in releasing an album that course-corrects your belief system.
Faith Crisis Pt 1 is the third studio album from Middle Kids. It’s a record that sees Hannah, alongside her bandmates (husband/bassist Tim Fitz and drummer Harry Day), place their core understanding of the universe under a pressure test to see if it can withstand the intensity of today.
On albums Lost Friends and Today We’re The Greatest, the three-piece have sought to answer life’s big questions through a radiant indie-rock sound and lyrics that colour in all shades of emotion: love, loss, anger, happiness, hurt and hope. It’s seen them praised by Elton John and invited to perform on US late night shows and at Lollapalooza; they’ve also won Best Rock Album at the 2021 ARIA awards and taken out triple j’s Best Australian Album Award in 2018.
Music is how Middle Kids make sense of the world. But the fallout of the pandemic brought everything into question. Loss of work, isolation from the world and feeling cooped up inside their home, Hannah felt like she lost grip on the ideas that guide her. She’d also given birth to her firstborn. “He was ill for a long time, too,” the singer says.
“Even in hard or chaotic times, I’ve always felt that there are things I believe to be true,” explains Hannah. “Like, love is more powerful than anything else, and everything will work out in the end. But at this particular time, I was going through things that challenged some of my core beliefs. I was struck with this scary feeling of like, ‘Maybe it’s just chaos, and that’s just it’.”
From that confusion came the 13 tracks of Faith Crisis Pt 1. They spilled out of Hannah, one by one, as she sought to make sense of her headspace. Anxiety and confusion pulse throughout this album, but it’s never alienating or overwhelming. It’s comforting. The record’s big belly of emotions is communicated through euphoric yet earnest lyrics – a Middle Kids trademark – and buoyed by a crisp indie-rock-pop production that cuts to the heart of it all.
“What I like about this record is there’s hope because there’s still belief, it just shifts and changes,” she says, “It was very liberating because I think truth is a journey that is important to explore and discover.”
That’s where the resilient edge of this record emerges. We put it to Hannah that it’s quite brave to lean into the chaos of having your truth columns crumble – most wouldn’t want to make sense of it. She’s quick to tell us that this courage only exists because of her craft. “I don’t think I’m naturally a brave person,” she explains. “I think some of those feelings can be freaky. [But] when I’m engaging with my art, it takes me to a place… [that] feels quite safe and magical. I’ll write a song and it helps me understand myself and what’s going on inside.”
Hannah and Tim welcomed their second son in February. The vocalist confesses she was scared about becoming a mum initially, even though she always wanted children, because it could redefine her relationship with music. But after her first was born, she says motherhood cracked her art wide open. “You’re raw a lot more – all the time. And I think that’s cool. In terms of being vulnerable, you’re just kind of there, whether you want to be or not.
“With a life-altering experience like having kids, I feel like it’s made me go deeper and broader as an artist. I’m learning more and more about how [motherhood and music] can complement each other quite wonderfully.
“But it’s twofold. Songs are ripe for the picking [yet] you’re very time-poor.”
When writing Faith Crisis Pt 1, Hannah shut herself away in coastal shacks for a night or two of secluded songwriting, a new Middle Kids method that gave her space from the enjoyable madness of becoming a parent. “I can’t operate the same way that I did before, and there are sacrifices you make,” she says. “But I would do it in a heartbeat. I was scared of losing myself… but then I realised it’s such a relief to lose myself. You start realising you’re built to serve other people. We’re our best selves when we’re generous and pouring ourselves out.”
On May 25, Middle Kids will return to The Gov as part of their 11-date Australian tour before jetting over to North America for a string of shows in June. “I’m really excited,” Hannah says. “A lot of this record we haven’t played live yet. With the other two records, songs [took] a life of their own – a song [became] a shared thing, it’s not just this little thing we made. I’m really looking forward to that.”
And as the Faith Crisis Pt 1 chapter starts to close, Hannah says she’s found comfort from breaking down and rebuilding her belief system – it’s easier to understand the world in shades of grey, not black and white.
“It’s funny,” she says. “We’re in a time of total intense chaos, especially on the internet, and it’s all like, what do you believe in? What is true? And are you going to be on the right side of history?
“The last few years making this record, I’ve started to feel a lot more like I’m never going to know – it’s going to change and shift, and that’s okay. I feel a lot more relaxed about not knowing things. It’s quite liberating.”
Middle Kids play at The Gov on Saturday, May 25.
