Christeene — MIDNITE FUKK TRAIN — Album Review
Alternative | Experimental | Punk | Rock
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
I can’t really say that I discovered Christeene independently. But rather, my friends recommendation led me to crossing paths with the musical aias of Christeene Vale (born as Paul Soileau), an American drag queen and music artist.
However, I did unawarely get a musical glimpse of Christeene’s incredibly unique sound through her feature on Soft Cell’s latest album Happiness Not Included* (on the track “Nighthawks”). At that point, it certainly felt like a polarising vocal sound to say the least. However, I still felt that it simply came down to me not knowing the artist fully enough at that point.
And the chance to finally do so came at the perfect time, as we now finally have the brand new studio album from Christeene (allegedly, the third in her discography), titled MIDNITE FUKK TRAIN.
Now, I figured I would listen to the prior two albums (2012’s Waste Up, Kneez Down, and 2018’s Basura) a little bit first before fully diving into this review. And from this, I could definitely pick up on quite the rapid sense of musical progression. With the debut album feeling more akin to the typical electronic extravaganza you would expect from an album made by a drag artist, the sophomore clearly showed signs of Christeene being more experimental.
But, I digress, there’s quite the space in years between those two albums, and a similar argument can be said with Basura, and MIDNITE FUKK TRAIN. But does this third album (I realise there’s been quite the trend for me reviewing “third albums” of late) show Christeene progressing beyond? The answer is an astounding yes!
I don’t think there has been such an exceptional job done as with the lead-up to this album, when it came to getting long-time fans excited, and new fans (like myself) on board. “BEAUCOUP MOROCCO” might even stand up there as one my favourite tracks of my entire year, thanks to its incredible weirdness (which I will elaborate upon later. But I also have to shout out “LO PAID RUNWAY MODEL” as being an oddly beautiful track, and also the main reason why I properly discovered Christeene in the first place. With that said, it didn’t take long at all for me to be excited for this album, despite not even really being aware of Christeene a matter of months ago.
And the album that those great tracks teased certainly didn’t disappoint in any regard either. The whole thing felt so incredibly unique. MIDNITE FUKK TRAIN flet to me like one of the ultimate “guilty pleasure” albums of 2022, in the sense that it is just so wonderfully weird. None of it should work, in theory. However, Christeene effortlessly takes all of these outlandish elements, such as the shrill saxophone tones, and her own raspy vocals, and crushes them together to make this some kind of messy masterpiece.
It’s one of those albums which would garner tones more respect, I feel, if not for the fact that fewer people know of this artist. It truly is an album that feels like it’s trailblazing something.
The term “delightfully weird” could not be a more apt description of MIDNITE FUKK TRAIN; truly one of the most unique albums that the musical year has had to offer.
Favourite Tracks: BEAUCOUP MOROCCO | GUTT IT | I WANT IT ALL | LO PAID RUNWAY MODEL
Spaceflight Records
