Recorded live, the five-track EP feels like an artist standing in front of you rather than hiding behind studio trickery, let’s take a listen and tell you al about it.
Opening with CRUEL WIND, the atmosphere is established immediately.
The live setting works in its favour, allowing Gabe’s voice and the chemistry between the musicians to breathe naturally. It isn’t flawless. Every slight imperfection reinforces the feeling that these songs have been lived rather than manufactured.
The title track, MIDNIGHT TRAIN, follows with confident momentum, blending classic rock influences with indie sensibilities.
You can hear attempts of Pink Floyd’s spaciousness and Led Zeppelin’s swagger without it ever feeling like outright imitation. Instead, Golan filters those influences through his own scars, giving the performance genuine character. Might as well aim high eh?
The cover of Keep Me Hanging On is perhaps the EP’s biggest gamble.
It’s a song that’s been reinvented countless times, and while Gabes doesn’t completely reinvent it, he injects personality to justify its inclusion. Rather than trying to outdo previous versions, he leans into the live energy, delivering it with conviction instead of theatrics.
Things become even more interesting on 1991, featuring Gabriel Just.
The additional vocal dynamic broadens the emotional landscape, and the track benefits from the long-standing musical relationship that underpins the project.
There’s an ease between the performers that can’t be faked, built from years of collaboration rather than a convenient guest appearance.
Closing track YOU TRIED YOUR BEST, again featuring Gabriel Just, delivers perhaps the EP’s emotional peak. It carries the weight of Golan’s personal history without ever becoming self-indulgent, finding strength through vulnerability instead of melodrama.
Knowing the journey behind these recordings inevitably colours the listening experience. Golan’s battles with PTSD, addiction and unimaginable personal loss give the songs an authenticity that’s difficult to manufacture.
However, the record deserves credit because it doesn’t rely on biography alone. Strip away the backstory and there’s still a collection of heartfelt performances supported by tasteful musicianship, particularly Gabriel Lefelman’s guitar work, which adds texture without overwhelming the songs.
The live recording approach, captured professionally after years sitting on a hard drive, proves to be the right decision, preserving the emotional immediacy that these songs clearly needed.
The live mix occasionally sacrifices vocal clarity when the instrumentation swells, making some lyrical moments harder to connect with on a first listen. At times, the arrangements also stay comfortably within familiar classic rock territory.
t never begs for sympathy or hides behind production tricks. Instead, it offers five songs performed by musicians who have clearly earned every note through experience, perseverance and belief in what they’re creating.
In a musical landscape often obsessed with perfection, Lior Golan reminds us that sometimes the cracks are where the real stories live. The train has left the station, and it’ll be worth seeing where it heads next.
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