Before they set to work on their sixth album, Midlake as a collective had a band meeting. Amongst the topics for discussion it seemed were fundamental principles; singer Eric Pulido revealing afterwards “I wrote (the album’s first single) The Ghouls after a conversation within our camp about everyone’s respective goals.” The desired approach to him anyway seemed to be clear, a job where “The temptation to demonize the realities or challenges that exist and yet to face them head on and create something extraordinary.”
The album’s title is a deliberate play on words, one designed to stimulate ideas of possibility. In musical terms the Texan quintet are most widely recognised for their 2006 sophomore record The Trials of Van Occupanther and their work with John Grant on his solo debut Queen of Denmark, but there’s a depth here which would surprise those with notions of them existing in a permanently beige, electric folk tinged world.
Ok, so maybe they’re in that space some of the time as opener Days Gone By’s trilling flutes and Crosby, Stills & Nash vibe demonstrates, but the propulsive yacht rock of The Ghouls and Eyes Full of Animal’s grit reveal a band not content with a stampless musical passport. Closer Valley of Roseless Thorns appears in protest to be aimed at one would-be king, but Bridge To Far‘s best moment is the contemplative ballad Within/Without, a slow burning gift that should make us glad that the meeting went one way and not the other.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 