Four years and an albums worth of scrapped material after ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’, Midlake return with their third album ‘The Courage of Others’.
After hearing that the band had been brushing up on British folk during the intervening years I approached this record with some trepidation, as I have somewhat of an aversion to traditional British folk, and after all, would another album of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young/Fleetwood Mac informed rock have been such a bad thing?
As it turns out, such trepidation was misplaced, rather than traditional folk, ‘The Courage of Others’ recalls bands such as Fairport Convention, and at times Jethro Tull. A kind of transatlantic cousin to its predecessor.
After hearing that the band had been brushing up on British folk during the intervening years I approached this record with some trepidation, as I have somewhat of an aversion to traditional British folk, and after all, would another album of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young/Fleetwood Mac informed rock have been such a bad thing?
As it turns out, such trepidation was misplaced, rather than traditional folk, ‘The Courage of Others’ recalls bands such as Fairport Convention, and at times Jethro Tull. A kind of transatlantic cousin to its predecessor.
The first thing that struck me about this record, was how utterly morose it is, almost exclusively a minor key affair, it’s a grey cloud that never lifts, to quote guitarist Eric Pulido; “If someone thought that Van Occupanther was melancholy, than they’re gonna think this is the saddest record ever”.
There’s something about that sadness that brings to mind Radiohead, front man Tim Smith’s vocals play no small part in this, and without exception, when I hear ‘Bring Down’ I cannot help but think of ‘Exit Music (For a Film)’ from ‘Ok Computer’.
It’s only after a few listens that this record really begins to reveal itself, ‘…Van Occupanther’ was far from instantly accessible, ‘The Courage of Others’ even less so. It’s an album that begs to be listened to as just that, an album. When listened to individually, the majority of tracks here seem to lack some substance, but when put in context, they flow in and out of each other perfectly.
‘The Courage of Others’ is certainly a grower, I’ve been listening to it incessantly since it’s release, and am still discovering it, a sign of an excellent record if ever there was one.
There’s something about that sadness that brings to mind Radiohead, front man Tim Smith’s vocals play no small part in this, and without exception, when I hear ‘Bring Down’ I cannot help but think of ‘Exit Music (For a Film)’ from ‘Ok Computer’.
It’s only after a few listens that this record really begins to reveal itself, ‘…Van Occupanther’ was far from instantly accessible, ‘The Courage of Others’ even less so. It’s an album that begs to be listened to as just that, an album. When listened to individually, the majority of tracks here seem to lack some substance, but when put in context, they flow in and out of each other perfectly.
‘The Courage of Others’ is certainly a grower, I’ve been listening to it incessantly since it’s release, and am still discovering it, a sign of an excellent record if ever there was one.
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