So, Midlake are back, back, back!

Sort of.

Start again.

Some of Midlake are back, back, back! Back without lyricist and vocalist and all-round lead man Tim Smith, who has legged it to form a band called Harp. New track “Antiphon” certainly isn’t the doomy-gloomy cobblers that infested their last album “The Courage Of Others”, which is right up there near the top of the “Whatever the hell were they thinking?” pile. Some years ago I summed it up as “Minor key, we’re all doomed, here’s a flute solo“¹. Which was obviously a shame as “Van Occupanther” was, just, you know, fucking ace.

And a fucking ace record which I still listen to today, and as “Roscoe” is the third most-listened to track in my iTunes⁴, so I have a vested interest in wanting “Antiphon” to be good.

Which, after a few listens, it seems to be. Good, not great, maybe, but certainly good. With new vocalist Eric Pulido (previous backing vocalist) being a better singer than many frontmen, and assuming that Tim Smith was responsible for much of the moany eco-catastrophe nonsense of “The Courage Of Others”, I’m quietly hopeful that on November 8th, I might be in for a pleasant surprise. More news here, from those marvellous people at Bella Union.

Oh, and a quick tip to the band – when you’re offering the first track from your long-awaited new LP on your website, best tell your web host first, eh?

¹ Yes, yes, yes, quoting yourself is the first sign of uparsedness², but you know what? Go and write your own blog and keep doing it (sporadically) for four years, whilst working and raising kids and all that. Go on, do it.

² The second being making words up, of course³

³ The third being copying David Foster Wallace¹

⁴ In case you’re interested, joint #3 is “Ready, Able” by Grizzly Bear, #2 is “Marquee Moon” by Television and #1 is “Sun Is King” by Laura Veirs, which was something of a surprise, albeit a pleasant one.

MP3: Van Occupanther (Live) by Midlake

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