“Not to say the whole album was written after midnight, but certainly the focus and a lot of the feeling and the spirit was [formulated] in that time,” vocalist Fergus Linacre tells Apple Music of Kingswood’s eighth studio album. “That time feels more appropriate for the music we’re trying to make.” On Midnight Mavericks, that music fits broadly under the West Coast country rock umbrella, with pedal steel and mandolin adding texture to “Highway Signs,” rich vocal harmonies floating atop “Lovin’ a Girl,” and irresistible pop melodies infiltrating the earthy country rock of “Two Lovers.” It’s an album rich in characters and storytelling, and here Linacre and guitarist Alex Laska talk Apple Music through Midnight Mavericks, track by track. “Two Lovers” (feat. Steph Greenwood) Fergus Linacre: “It’s about trying to find that resolve after a breakup. Very rarely can you come back together and be over it enough to be in each other’s lives and say, ‘I still want you in my corner.’ I always admire when you see people that used to be together that can still be in each other’s lives. It’s celebrating that.” “Lovin’ a Girl” Alex Laska: “It’s the idea that you can’t be brokenhearted by someone that you don’t know, but you can certainly envisage and daydream about what your life might be like with a stranger. And there’s a safety in playing out these fantasies, but there’s also a cowardice. There’s no risk of commitment. There’s no risk of heartbreak. But what sort of existence is that?” “The Action” FL: “It’s a little story about two people who meet in a bar and end up getting together. But more than that, it’s about that time when you feel good again [after a heartbreak], you feel confident again, and you get your groove back.” AL: “The essence and the beauty of the song is that this person hasn’t been dulled or their appetite for romance hasn’t been diminished by heartbreak.” “Highway Signs” AL: “In America, the highway is littered with signs. They advertise [a] church and then guns and then bail bonds and then Walmart. The idea that you could have something as contrasting as purchasing ammunition and then, a couple of hundred meters later, finding God, it’s such an interesting concept that I thought was worth exploring. How that reflects upon Ferg and I is like, when we’re on the road in Australia, we go through our own highway signs, but they’re internal. Pondering the journey and our own lives, but we’re not being prompted by something. There’s a duality between those two things.” “Mary Jane” AL: “It’s kind of about my girlfriend. It’s about her character and how I see her. It’s fictionalizing everything that I know about her and that’s real about her to paint a picture of the way I see her. Imagine putting a Disney filter over someone, beautifully painted, scene by scene.” “Jenny” FL: “Did we choose the name ‘Jenny’ because of Forrest Gump?” AL: “Yeah, there’s certainly a representation of this character in that movie. You have this character that is fleeting throughout your life and you share so many foundational memories with, but the real world and the constraints of time pull you in different directions. But you have this secret history that binds you, and there’s a romance to that.” “Faith” AL: “This one was co-written with Tyler Halverson and Jon Decious. And at the time, I believe [Tyler] was in a relationship with another artist named Carter Faith, which is what maybe inspired the name. Just as we were talking about ‘Mary Jane’ and kind of casting this image or this fictionalization but using reality to do it, I think it’s Tyler’s version of that.” “Pouring Rain” FL: “It has these quirky references throughout it; films that we love like Roman Holiday. It’s trying to paint this picture of romance. The chorus, ‘I loved you on the corner in the pouring rain,’ was written before COVID. Then the verse—‘When the winter came and the snow fell over our town’—is a reference to being locked down and stuck together and trying to figure things out. It’s an outpouring of admiration and love for someone.” “Joanie” AL: “Joanie and Bobby were the original owners of [my] truck. I’ve never met these people. I imagined the state that it’s been kept in and how much pride is in this vehicle would be a representation of how they loved [each other]. It just took me on this really nice fantasy of what their love story would be.” “Last First Kiss” FL: “‘Last first kiss’ is a lyric from [2023 album] The Tale of G.C. Townes. I thought it was worthy of its own thing. It’s looking into that moment where you go, ‘This is it. I’ve met the one. I’m all in from here.’”