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![Midnight Zoo](/https/music.apple.com/assets/artwork/1x1.gif)
DICE christened their debut album after their private nickname for Tone City, the Perth studio where they worked well into the wee hours cutting this record. Even if you didn’t know that bit of trivia, the title doubles as a potent evocation of the quartet’s brooding, bristling rock. Led by singer/guitarist Ben Hodge’s smoky vocal delivery, the band announces itself firmly in the nocturnal lineage with The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys. Hodge muses about dancing with the moon on “Masquerade”, before sneaking in a more direct come-in or two. “Plead the Fifth” hits a sweet spot between rumbling turbulence and snappy forward motion, and “Quick to Judge” echoes The Rubens’ moody anthems with its distorted grit and bluesy cool. Certain songs may appear brighter by comparison—observe the frisky drive of “This is Not a Love Song” and the appropriately lackadaisical “Oh Dreamer”—but this young band sounds world-weary beyond its years. And on the closing “Storms”, all the rock trappings drop away so that Hodge can croon with quiet intensity over piano and sparse strings. It’s a nuanced culmination for an album that makes the nights seem like they could last forever.