Ears Wide Open: The Night Game

Kevin Bronson on April 24th, 2017

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The debut single from the Night Game is the kind of pop music that hits home runs in today’s field. It’s more clean-cut than the infield grass at Dodger Stadium, has the familiarity of any Sting-Bastille-Gotye song you might hear between innings and has a baseball-themed chorus cheesier than ballpark nachos. In a genre in need of high heat, it’s a slow, wobbly curve. The junkballer behind the Night Game is Martin Johnson, onetime frontman of the emo-pop band Boys Like Girls, abetted by Australian producer Francois Tetaz (yes, who worked with Gotye, who himself contributes background vocals on the song). A Massachusetts native, Johnson had been spending his post-Boys Like Girls days as a co-writer and producer for other pop artists, including Avril Lavigne and Christina Perri. Johnson now steps back up to the plate himself. Stop the baseball clichés, and cue the wave.

||| Stream: “The Outfield”