midlake - the trials of van occupanther

"Bandits" is fantastic.

But I think the second half is very good indeed. The closing song, "Head Home," is a smooth, Fleetwood-Mac/Steely Dan-like gem, with that bouncy piano line and the band's great harmonies. "We Gathered in Spring" has those thick synth sounds that shimmy up through the acoustic guitars during the chorus. It's another homage to 70s soft rock, but I can't put my finger on the obvious influences. "You Never Arrived" is a good song too, if a bit inconsequential at under 2:00. Overall, a very strong album.

"Roscoe" takes me back. I'm drawn to the harmonies in the chorus and the smoothness of the song, all of which sounds -- to me, at least -- so much like mid-seventies Fleetwood Mac/Steely Dan.

-- Daniel

I love that line. I like to say it to people that I meet.

I hope so. It's a really good record, with really solid songwriting (especially if you like Fleetwood Mac and lush harmonies, and I do).

:(

I still love this album a heap (as if it's been out for years) but the disparity between the fantastic Side A and the more mellow Side B has grown to frustrate me.

I think this might be favourite track! I know the verse melody is repetitive, but if let it wash over you and it works. And I love that clarinet(?) so much.

just between us, Pitchfork is becoming a lot like Q or Rolling Stone, in that a negative review from them is virtually a guarantee that I will like the thing in question...

haha

Bandits... oh, my.

Bad choice of punctuation. Lemme try again..

God... Pitchfork is useless.

um, me too.

Heresy! Head Home is magnificent, I say. Young Bride is bleh. It's great when the beat comes in at the beginning, and the verse is nice enough, but I think the chorus is a bit of a mess. The harmonies are too dissonant and jumbled; it's the one spot on the record where I find the vocals grating. And I feel like Young Bride is the one that goes for too long.

it used to be about the music

?
It's the third track on my copy.

almost immediately too...

Basement Jaxx? God forbid! Then change the word "dull" with "slightly boring". I've heard the album a few times and didn't find enough strong melodies, or I can't explain it better. Pleasant, beautifully orchestrated, but overall a bunch of inoffensive and not-so-memorable songs. A 7/10, which is not bad, though will not feature in my end of the year Top 10. Huh.

Sadly, you're right. It didn't even get added to METACRITIC until months after it was released (and it has good reviews, overall). I think it will show up on many Best of 2006 lists, though.

YOUNG BRIDE = classic.

What's the concept behind the album?

Isn't it about pioneers living in a forest in the 1890s or something? Maybe not pioneers.

It has been 3 years now, when is the new one coming out? TVO is fing great.

Good question. The top news story on the band's website is "Midlake is featured in this month’s issue of Under The Radar for the ‘Most Anticipated Albums of 2009′." So . . . maybe?

The blog, Indie Rock Examiner, says the band is set to release the new disc in 'early 2009'. So maybe shortly? OTOH, the direction the band may be taking is not encouraging: "their sound is (now) less "Fleetwood Mac-y, America," and has more of a British folk sound of the late '60s."

hmmm, now I have something to anticipate this year besides Quasi and Sin Ropas who are working on their albums now (with no updates).

I loved this for a few weeks and now I find myself really repelled by the idea of listening to it again - like really NOT into it. I'm not even sure why. It's weird.

^^^have had relationships like that

I haven't listened to Midlake very often but I have been playing 'Roscoe' a lot lately. Besides the driving guitars and original melody you get great vocals and these lyrics:

The village used to be all one really needs
That's filled with hundreds and hundreds of
Chemicals that mostly surround you
You wish to flee but it's not like you
So listen to me, listen to me

Oh, oh, oh and when the morning comes,
We will step outside
We will not find another man inside
We like the newness, the newness of all
That has grown in our garden soaking for so long

Whenever I was a child I wondered what if my name had changed into something more productive like Roscoe
Been born in 1891...

-the repetition of words here sounds godly the way he sings it
-the line about Roscoe is awesome

1891
They looked around the forest
They made their house from cedars
They made their house from stones

-the scenery and people this song evokes in my mind is quite awesome as well

I usually turn to Hood at this time of year but Midlake are doing the trick, at the moment.

The Courage of Others has definitely grown on me over time

this was a show i didn't hate all around, from the band to the crowd

Hearing Bamnan and Slivercork for the first time. It sounds like Grandaddy. I like Grandaddy 'n' all but ...

Any good interviews about the inspirations/origins/narratives for Van Occupanther?

While i haven't listened to this album in a long while, i find the acoustic version of "Roscoe" on the Oak & Julian EP still gets consistent replays. In fact, listening to the album version just now is a bit hard on these ears after becoming so attuned to the mellower version.

New album on its way and Tim Smith has left (might be old news but is new to me).

They havent released anything in 7 years!?

There was a record in between.

I don't really understand this. Isn't Smith the primary songwriter in the band? And the lead vocalist?

Do I want to hear a Midlake album that doesn't involve Tim Smith?

I suppose we are going to find out.

Do we know if he was or wasn't involved in the making if the next record ... the one coming out soon?

Based on their website, it reads as if he went before recording.

I know nothing of their songwriting process--how integral or not Tim Smith was--but I will say it's clear that everyone in this band are super-talented musicians, and nearly all of them can sing. I have no idea what the new album will sound like but I can envision this band pulling a Pink Floyd, seeing another guy in the band just step up and guide them in a new direction. I think it's possible.

harpband.com

thanks for that link. can't wait to hear what he does AND what Midlake does. hopeful that pgwp is right, and agree that it's entirely possible.

http://soundcloud.com/midlake/antiphonmidlake

It's different, kinda. A little heavier, and the lyrics are way less detailed. But it's not bad!

Strangely gutted about this despite not getting into the last album at all.

is antiphon their momentary lapse of reason?

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/27/240566876/first-listen-midlake-antiphon

Big improvement over the last album which for me was a huge disappointment but not quite in the same league as Van Occupanther.

I haven't enjoyed anything they've done in the past but really like this one.

loved the last one, kinda lukewarm on this one

I agree it's better than Courage of Others and not as great as Van Occupanther. But on the other hand the changes to their lineup are so noticeable that it's misleading to compare directly. I do like it--trying to decide if I like it enough to invest a lot more time in it though. Will give it a few more spins.

Strangely gutted about this despite not getting into the last album at all.

― djh, Thursday, August 8, 2013 9:31 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Weird, I'd never noticed before that "Bamnan And Slivercork" was their first album not their latest (aside from Antiphon).

Midlake are in the latest edition of Uncut, doing a kind of 'van Occupanther' making of. Not hugely revelatory, beyond the fact that they (read: Tim) were kind of minutely obsessive in the recording process, but it has led me to Jimmie Spheeris' Isle of View which is fantastic and quite clearly the ur-text out of which van Occupanther grew.

wow i've never heard of this spheeris record but its very much my shit thanks

^^ same, and same. Love this!

I'd always kind of sought the roots of Van Occupanther. I mean I can deal with the themes well enough (I always thought of it as like the obverse of The Sophtware Slump, as a comment on broken modernity, only with stonemasons instead of broken robots) but I'd never quite got to the bottom of the sound. Fleetwood Mac? Sure, a bit, but I was looking for something else. Isle of View is so clearly it, it's not true!

i was gonna make a 'forest fantasy folk' spotify playlist starting with midlake 'rulers, ruling all things' and spheeris 'i am the mercury' as the seeds, but i'm having trouble thinking of anything else that shares enough musical dna with them. van morrison 'streets of arklow' might be just close enough to make the cut?

thanks to this thread I have now heard Isle Of View; thank you, thread, because Isle Of View owns a whole lot. (groan-inducing pun in the title notwithstanding)

it reminds me a lot of Judee Sill

It's hard for me, but I'm trying.