“Quarter Past Midnight” by Bastille

"Quarter Past Midnight" was Bastille's first step toward their third album, Doom Days, arriving on 9 May 2018, more than a year ahead of the record. Dan Smith wrote it alone and produced it with Mark Crew, and he pitched it as the album's opening scene: a song about escapism, about wanting the night to go on forever and getting lost in it, meant to come out raucous, messy and euphoric.

It's a crowded room on the credits: Smith on vocals, keyboards and piano, William Farquarson on guitar and bass, Chris “Woody” Wood on drums, and Charlie Barnes, Kianja and Kyle Simmons on backing vocals, with Crew recording and Mark “Spike” Stent mixing. The video hit YouTube two weeks later, on 23 May.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.