Here’s another biggie. Midlake‘s last album, “The Trials Of Van Occupanther”, was one of my favourite albums of the decade. I loved the old-age feel to the record, it was like The Band jamming with ELO in a theme park about the Wheeler Survey. And they are back on February 1st with “The Courage Of Others”. From what I’ve heard, it’s somewhat more minor key than “Van Occupanther”, but carries over that lovely pastoral 19th Century backwoods town feel to it. You’d expect them to turn up in an episode of Deadwood, singing about how men are doomed to their fate or somesuch.
Midlake Midwoods
Whilst digging around for more information about the new Midlake record, I came across a track by Ellie Goulding on this German blog. Covering a Midlake track is a dangerous thing, given how beautifully the band craft their songs, but with just an acoustic guitar and her voice, she makes “Roscoe” her own. Good work, highly-touted lady, and it just goes to show how good a song it is underneath all the instrumentation and multi-tracked vocals and whatnot.
MP3: Rulers, Ruling All Things by Midlake
MP3: Roscoe (Midlake Cover) by Ellie Goulding
Pre-Order “The Courage Of Others” (CD)
Loft And Lost 