Harp – Albion – Album Review

 Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com 

Album Review: Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther

Midlake's second album, released in 2006 was the one that really put the band on the map.  It opens with the piano of the incredibly catchy Roscoe.  It's an unashamedly classic rock sounding track, like Crosby, Stills and Nash rolled together with Fleetwood Mac.  That's not to say it's easy listening, singer Tim Smith and Eric Pulido both chime in with some scorching guitar licks on the track while Smith sings about "stonecutters made them from stones chosen specially for you and I."  It's probably the strongest song on the album but the rest is far from filler.

A couple of tracks in, Head Home has a hugely catchy piano riff with some great b*ll*x lyrics about a girl who "she reads Leviathan... I think I'll head home" and a fine guitar solo too.  In This Camp starts as a kind of lazy strum yet builds well, almost reaching similar heights, with some more fine guitar work.  Some of the more mellow moments work well also, We Gathered In Spring overcomes some rather cheesy keyboards to deliver another killer, if more laid-back chorus.

Other tracks such as the country-rock Bandits and the title track have that early seventies feel to them, and drift along pleasantly, with the occasional flute thrown in, narrowly avoiding pastiche.  One or two tracks don't work so well.  Branches drags a little, while It Covers The Hillside is a bit too happy cheese for comfort, but they don't distract from the overall feel of the album.  If you ever wanted to hear an early seventies soft-rock album updated for the 21st century, this is your album.  I guess it really IS ok to listen to Fleetwood Mac and embrace the melodies, and admit that Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear The Reaper really IS a good song.

Midlake - Antiphon

After years of deep suspicion and resistance to Midlake, primarily due to their very beardy, early seventies aesthetic, I’m afraid I have succumbed.  My resistance has been crushed by the monumentally catchy yet really great The Old and The Young.  Appearing three tracks into the album, on first listen it sounds like a seventies throwback, but then you start noticing modern touches such as the pulsing keyboards here and there.  None of this overshadows a genuinely majestic singalong melody, even the flutes midsong work a treat.

The danger with a song as strong as this is that it relegates the rest of the album to support act status.  This is far from the case here.  Previous singer Tim Smith quit the band after 2010’s The Courage of Others, so guitarist Eric Pulido has stepped up to the mark.  His vocals really suit the music here, leading with title track Antiphon, which strides triumphantly from the speakers, proclaiming "Antiphon! Antiphon!". 

The album is stuffed full of great melodies, Provider has a kind of seventies singalong melody with medieval allusions in the lyrics - "onward forth into a land unknown, swords were drawn upon the road."  It's awful b*ll*x, but it works well in the context of the song.  The album divides neatly in two by the appearance of proggy instrumental Vale, and this leads nicely into the folky Aurora Gone, featuring another fine Pulido vocal.  Ages, later in the album, again has that medieval, almost psychedelic feel to it, while also showcasing some great guitar work, and The Weight has a lovely, wordless singalong chorus.

A fine, fine album showing this band can survive Smith's departure without losing much.