Midlake Rise To The Occasion On New Album

Midlake
The Courage Of Others

According to chaos theory, complexity can spontaneously form out of simplicity. And so Midlake spin a dense and intricate web with awe-inspiring ease on their third album. The Texans should be treasured for following the peerless The Trials Of Van Occupanther with a record that’s indebted to traditional English folk music, yet still wholly and uniquely their own. The immediate funk of Roscoe may be missing but The Courage Of Others is brimming with somnolent harmonies and inventive, yet uncomplicated, instrumentation; and, best of all, it’s built to last. The warm, enveloping, hypnotic spell it weaves may well be the perfect sound to hibernate to, but come the spring it will still be on The Idiot’s stereo. And in the summer, autumn, winter and spring again, for that matter.

4.5/5

* Originally published in the February 2010 issue of The Fly and can be viewed here.