Is there anyone more in tune with banging out brilliant electro-pop hit after hit at the moment than Example?
Midnight Run makes it a hat-trick of great singles from his Playing In The Shadows album, channeling a sweet-spot somewhere between the Mario soundtrack and what Depeche Mode would sound like if they 'went dance' and started rapping.
Sometimes, all you want is just the most deliriously good synth-sounds, pumped intravenously straight into your bloodstream - Midnight run is the sonic equivalent of this.
Example can do no wrong at the moment. Every artist (if they're lucky) goes through that phase of their career where they bang out hit after hit, a veritable torrent of amazing tuneage.
New single Stay Awake picks up where the masterful Changed The Way You Kiss Me left off, an assault of domineering dancefloor magic. Example's all-inclusive calls to the 'leaders of the messed up generation' feels buoyed up with the confidence of a man who now has a Number One single under his belt.
Seeing Example play the Capital Summertime Ball at Wembley, he was clearly in his absolute element - 85,000 people arrayed before him, all dancing away.
Indeed, it was quite possible that he received the best reception of anyone that day; whipping the crowd up into a frenzy despite the apocalypticly dismal weather.
Stay Awake is the sound of a man so versed in producing an anthem you feel he could probably just as easily do it with his eyes closed. Melody, lyrics, rhythm - listening to Stay Awake is like seeing a master-technician at work, fine tuning a high-end sport car for the race. And when that machine is unleashed, boy does it fly...
