Cool name right!?... Fly by Midnight is a pop duo, formed in 2015 based in Staten Island, New York. It consists of Justin Bryte and Justin Slavo (yeah…both have the same first name…), who after a co-writing session decided they wanted to make music together. The duo made You Tube song covers in their career beginnings before shifting their focus on more original music in the last 2 years. They still do release occasional covers and their channel is almost at 250,000 subscribers. On Spotify this duo has managed to gain a mass following of over 14,000 people.

Their first original single, called Brooklyn (part of their New York Nostalgia album) was released back in 2015(obviously).Their latest release was in 2019 with their song Lovely, releasing in January.
Even though this duo is not well known in the music industry, their songs have frequently reached the top of Spotify’s new music lists, which honestly is not surprising at all, considering their songs are very catchy and ‘pop-ish’ (derived from pop, just in case you didn’t realize that…laughs).With this we’ll segue into the next section- lyrics

Now both of these gentlemen are in their 20s which is clearly evident in their song writing style. Some of their early works like Vinyl and Brooklyn don’t really make sense if you think about it. Let’s take Vinyl (from their album New York Nostalgia) for example,

We can rock, we can roll
Don’t let pop steal the show
Ditch that MP3

Now I get that the song is supposed to be jovial and joy full, and honestly feel relate able too, for millennials of our age, but still a bit more depth in these lyrics would have been nice.
Another song  Vibe (also from their album New York Nostalgia), which is an enjoyable song indeed, but the lyrics here feel repetitive, it almost feel like they were out of lyrics so they just used the chorus and the pre-chorus  to fill the gaps. In a 3.18 second song the chorus and the pre-chorus is repeated 4 TIMES! 
 Moving on to their more recent work, their lyrical style has remained mostly the same, but it’s not like they haven’t improved over time. Now their songs seem more meaning full than before all the while being relate able (which is kind of their strongest suit). The repetition problem is still persistent though. For example, their song Swimming with Sharks (from their new album Rerunning) has the pre-chorus and chorus repeated 2 times, well! You’ll say that’s not a lot….but wait until I tell you the length of the song- 2.47 seconds. Yep! In 2.47 seconds the only thing they manage to do is sing the chorus and the pre-chorus and 2 other 11 second verses. First of all the song is too short and then, even if it is people expect more than just than chorus and the pre-chorus in a song.

Okay, that’s enough with the criticism, now let’s move on to the part where they actually shine. Production

The duo has released 2 original albums (New York Nostalgia and Rerunning) since 2015. Their production style has also remained largely the same.All of their(okay, maybe not all but most) songs are catchy, fun and most definitely pleasing to here. They tend to use soft beats which makes the song, well…not hectic, as in their songs (most) feel aesthetically pleasing. Even the ones that are a bit more dance oriented songs, the beats are moderated to suit their production style and their overall vibe. They also rely heavily on synthesized voices for their background layer of songs. In almost all of their recent songs you could hear the synthesized voice behind and I find that a very judicious use of voice, it makes the song more interesting and more natural, like it prepares the listener to what he’s going to experience, beforehand. On the singing side, both of these artists sing and their voices are appealing. Bryte usually goes for high notes where as Slavo usually stays in the lower spectrum. Their sound seems natural and either of these rarely go for falsetto, which is also why their songs seem relate able. It feels like a ‘normal’ persons singing ‘normal’ songs ‘normally’ (that’s…the only way I could describe it).
So Fly by Midnight are wonderful artist with their own kind of approach to music. They do follow traditional patters but their ability to scrounge up something new from that same set of practices is commendable. The songs seem familiar and yet distinct. I would really suggest you all give these two a listen, you probably won’t be disappointed and if you’re a pop fan then you’ll definitely love these guys (and no they haven’t paid me to say all this).