Neon Odyssey: How The Midnight’s Synthwave Sound Inspired a New D&D Space Opera

On October 3, 2024 Mikey Gilder was, in his words, “on the edge.” The Avantris Co-Founder and CMO was deep into creating the epic D&D horror epic The Crooked Moon and was searching for inspiration to keep the project going. Enter: popular synthwave band The Midnight.

“Being in (The Crooked Moon’s) deep dark horror for so long creatively takes a toll on you,” Gilder says. “There’s a lot of pain in that process. I was on the cliff. I was ready to give up. I went to the (Midnight) concert and I ascended. I was injected with spiritual fuel and that was enough to keep me going to get The Crooked Moon done.”

That jolt of inspiration led not only to the success of The Crooked Moon, but directly to Avantris’s new project Neon Odyssey. Described as “a 1,400+ page, three-book space opera trilogy for Dungeons & Dragons 5.5E,” Neon Odyssey is “set in the galaxy of Stardust Rhapsody [and] gives players and Game Masters everything they need to run cinematic adventures across strange planets, neon megacities, space stations, starships, and the far reaches of outer space.”

As part of the launch of Neon Odyssey, Avantris decided to work with The Midnight on an original song for the project. The song is featured in Neon Odyssey’s launch trailer/music video and “helps introduce the tone, style, and energy of Stardust Rhapsody.”

Along with Gilder, I spoke with The Midnight founding member Tim McEwan about the collaboration. McEwan, who grew up gaming on the Sega Mega Drive in Europe (otherwise known as the Sega Genesis in the US) says the songwriting process for Neon Odyssey was rooted in emotion rather than worldbuilding.

“I don’t recall [seeing] any visuals. We didn’t need to see visuals in order to understand the emotions behind [the] storytelling. As for the lyrics, that’s my bandmate Tyler Lyle. I built the track [and] came up with a little synth pluck thing. We sent a rough demo over to the guys [at Avantris]. [They] really [understood] the technical side and knew exactly what [they] wanted, which makes our jobs way easier. So, I would love to sit here and go, ‘Oh, we we we we worked so hard,’ but it was such a fun, easygoing experience that it sort of came together really nicely.”

For his part, Gilder says bringing The Midnight on as a partner played a huge part in creating the tone and overall vibe of Neon Odyssey. “There [are] a tremendous number of influences on the board in this world,” Gilder says. “I always say it’s Star Wars meets Cowboy Bebop with a synthwave coat of paint. Star Wars is important because it’s the archetypical space opera. With Star Wars, when you watch it, it hits something in your soul. It’s playing on the hero’s journey that has existed for thousands of years.

“Cowboy Bebop has the important element of nostalgia, when you look back to the happier times. There’s also kind of an inherent melancholy [and] wistfulness. It’s not an evil galactic empire. They’re not blowing up massive space stations. It’s dealing with the very personal problems of a group of people. And sometimes they win and sometimes they lose.”

“It’s one of those great experiences – where someone comes to you asking for the thing you really like to do and you know are good at,” McEwan adds. “You want us to do a song about, you know, nostalgia and loss and the hero’s journey? We can do that. We were kids in a candy store. Nostalgia has a built-in sadness. It’s that idea of this moment will never come back and that’s why it’s beautiful. Life is a series of precious little moments in between the big moments. Usually [it’s] the smaller moments that you remember.”

For McEwan, working with Avantris on Neon Odyssey went beyond their shared appreciation for nostalgia. McEwan says it was an opportunity to engage in cinematic storytelling. “I’m inspired by cinematic things,” McEwan says. “So movies will inspire me to evoke a feeling. If it’s [the 1982 Steven Spielberg film] ET, it’s wonder, loss of innocence, and deep heartbreak. I don’t know what other people are going to experience when they listen to our music, but I’ll I’ll say this: the many times that I’ve tried to evoke a specific feeling in a track, people [will] make fan-made video edits using a movie and they will use the movies I had in my head when I was making the track.”

With the launch of Neon Odyssey, Gilder says that he hopes people will appreciate not only the massive, detailed, and unique story Avantris is trying to tell but also the sheer effort that went into creating it.

“We have an incredible team of incredibly talented folks,” Gilder says. “It’s no longer just us in a townhouse. [The story has] weird aliens. There’s spaceships. There’s space whales and space dolphins inspired by Ecco the Dolphin. We have over 30 folks across the world all contributing their incredible talent. We’re getting better at it every day and I think that Neon Odyssey will hopefully show that.”

Michael Peyton is the Senior Editorial Director of Events & Entertainment at IGN, leading entertainment content and coverage of tentpole events including IGN Live, San Diego Comic Con, gamescom, and IGN Fan Fest. He’s spent 20 years working in the games and entertainment industry, and his adventures have taken him everywhere from the Oscars to Japan to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Follow him on Bluesky @MichaelPeyton