There is a kind of music that emerges only from genuine struggle, forged through pain and resilience and the long road back from darkness. Some artists channel their deepest torments into songs that serve as both personal therapy and medicine for others, transforming private suffering into something that can bring light to a dark world. When those songs have survived years of battles and finally reach the light, they carry a weight and authenticity that cannot be manufactured. Lior Golan has walked exactly this road, and Midnight Trains, the five-track EP released March 12, 2026, represents his first professionally recorded EP, a milestone that materialized after the raw recordings sat on his laptop for four years while he battled his demons and found his way back to sobriety and focus.
The profound personal struggle behind Midnight Trains gives it genuine emotional weight. Golan has channeled his pain into the EP, having dealt with PTSD from his IDF service, substance abuse, and the devastating loss of his beloved sister at the NOVA party. This personal foundation gives the EP its extraordinary authenticity, the music emerging from genuine suffering and resilience, the songs serving as both personal therapy and medicine for broken hearts worldwide. As Golan reflects, his PTSD and drug abuse were the engines behind writing these songs, a way of escapism and dreaming, and the process of creating and recovering healed him. This profound personal struggle gives Midnight Trains its emotional weight, the music being forged through real pain and channeled into something healing, the torment transformed into art that can reach others who suffer.
The remarkable journey of Midnight Trains reflects Golan’s resilience. The EP materialized after the raw recordings sat on his laptop for four years while Golan battled his demons. As he recounts, after the fourth version of his band, he decided to bring in a professional and finally record, but the materials then sat on his laptop for another four years as he dealt with his mental health struggles, his PTSD, his substance abuse, and the loss of his sister. Only after years of pain and struggle did he recover and find his focus, finally releasing the EP. This journey reflects Golan’s remarkable resilience, the EP surviving years of darkness before finally reaching the light, the release being a genuine triumph over adversity. This journey gives Midnight Trains its significance, the EP representing years of dreams and struggle and healing finally realized.
The EP’s live, organic energy gives it its powerful authenticity. Recorded at the renowned Shardo Studio with its impressive SSL console, the EP captures a live, organic energy through the simultaneous recording of bass and drums. As Golan explains, recording the bass guitar and drums playing live together as a guide is why the EP sounds so live, the organic approach giving the music its genuine energy. This live recording approach is central to the EP’s power, the simultaneous recording capturing the genuine chemistry and energy of the music, the live feel giving Midnight Trains its authentic, organic quality. This live energy distinguishes the EP, the songs being captured with the genuine power of live performance, the organic approach reflecting Golan’s commitment to authentic expression.
The EP opens with Cruel Wind, a powerful, evocative title that suggests the harsh forces that buffet us through life. This opening establishes the EP’s emotional intensity, the cruel wind embodying the difficult forces Golan has faced, the song setting the tone for the EP’s unflinching honesty. The title track Midnight Train follows, sharing its name with the band and embodying the EP’s central image. The midnight train suggests journeys through darkness, movement through the night, perhaps the passage through difficult times toward some destination. This title track sits at the heart of the EP, the midnight train embodying the journey through darkness that Golan has traveled, the image capturing the movement through the night toward light.
Keep Me Hanging On follows, a song whose recording was connected to Golan’s first production, the cover that preceded the EP’s recording. This track brings a sense of desperate persistence, the keeping hanging on embodying the struggle to hold on through difficult times, the determination to survive. 1991, featuring Gabriel Just, brings a specific year that likely carries personal significance, the date perhaps marking a meaningful moment in Golan’s life or history. This track brings a personal, reflective dimension to the EP, the specific year grounding the music in memory and personal history. The EP closes with You Tried Your Best, featuring Gabriel Just, a song Golan composed and wrote. This closing track carries a message of hard-won hope, its lyrics speaking of Golan’s time having come to be whole again, of searing a light from distant stars to human art. This closing track gives the EP a note of hard-won hope and healing, the message of becoming whole again reflecting Golan’s genuine recovery, the searing of a light embodying his mission to bring light to a dark world.
The fifteen-year musical partnership behind Midnight Trains gives it its depth. Golan’s partnership with guitarist Gabriel Lefelman spans fifteen years, born from chance meetings on Tel Aviv streets and sustained through a decade of lineup changes and financial struggles and mental health battles. As Golan recounts, they met around fifteen years ago and started working on songs immediately with perfect flow, meeting on the streets of Tel Aviv, sometimes in the rain or at construction sites. This enduring partnership gives the EP its depth, the years of shared struggle and musical development informing the music, the perfect flow between the two musicians giving Midnight Trains its genuine chemistry. This partnership reflects the resilience that defines Golan’s journey, the musical bond surviving a decade of hardship and mental health battles.
The hard-hitting rock influences that shape Midnight Trains give it its power. Influenced by the hard-hitting dynamics of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd and a roster of uncompromising rock legends, Golan creates music that hits hard with no compromise. As Golan notes, Led Zeppelin were the most influential, the way they play, hitting hard and accurate while giving room to the other instruments, their dynamics being unreplaceable. These influences give the EP its powerful, dynamic sound, the hard-hitting rock tradition informing Golan’s uncompromising approach, the music being a fusion of torment and passion guided by emotion and imagination. This rock influence gives Midnight Trains its power, the hard-hitting dynamics providing the perfect vehicle for Golan’s intense emotional expression.
The EP’s mission to heal gives it its deeper purpose. Golan wants his music to reach as many broken hearts in the world as possible, because there are far too many, having always wanted to bring some light to a dark world. As he describes it, all of his torments and dreams and passion are in these songs, unfiltered and exposed, the process of creating them having healed him. This mission gives Midnight Trains its deeper purpose, the music being not merely self-expression but medicine intended to heal others, the songs offering their therapeutic power to those who need it most. This mission to bring light and healing distinguishes the EP, Golan transforming his own suffering into medicine for broken hearts, the music being non-commercial free medicine composed from torment and passion.
The masterful contributions of the musicians enrich Midnight Trains. Enhanced by masterful keyboard work from Niv Hovav on Hammond and synths and piano, and layered guitar textures added in later sessions, the EP achieves genuine richness and depth. As Golan describes, after recording the vocals and layers, they added guitar sessions to bring texture and layering to the songs. These contributions give the EP its rich, layered sound, Hovav’s keyboard work and the guitar textures adding depth and atmosphere to the powerful rock foundation. This musical richness gives Midnight Trains its full, immersive quality, the masterful contributions elevating the EP beyond raw rock into something textured and atmospheric.
Midnight Trains is the sound of torment transformed into healing, a five-track EP forged through genuine struggle and resilience. Lior Golan has channeled his pain from PTSD and substance abuse and devastating loss into powerful, unfiltered rock music, the live, organic energy and the hard-hitting dynamics combining into an EP that survived years of darkness before finally reaching the light.
From distant stars to human art, Lior Golan sears a light through music forged in genuine pain and hard-won recovery. Midnight Trains is medicine for broken hearts, and its unflinching fusion of torment and passion proves that even the deepest suffering can be transformed into something that brings light to a dark world, reaching those who need its therapeutic power most.
This EP was created through the artist’s experiences with PTSD, substance abuse, and the loss of a loved one, and for anyone facing similar struggles, please know that support is available, and reaching out to someone you trust or a mental health professional can make a genuine difference.
