Midlake Entrance MOJO Club!

1:17 PM GMT 01/02/2010

Midlake
Wilton's Music Hall, London
January 31, 2010

SOME GROUPS HAVE AURAS. Others don't. Midlake once belonged in the latter category. Wooed like many by the serene neo-soft rock of The Trials Of Van Occupanther album, I saw them at the Luminaire in May '06 and they oozed an apologetic "whadda we know?" quality that sold the music short. The tunes they played from their debut Banman & Silvercork LP didn't help: decent, earnest indie rock off the shelf marked Grandaddy, but the depth and magnetism of Van Occupanther was of a different order.

Four years on, the beards are luxuriantly grown, Van Occupanther is a touchstone album, and Midlake wear the expectations of Wilton's selective 370 capacity with confidence. It must help that the new record, The Courage Of Others (out today) is so good, with songs that sup at Van Occupanther's well of wistfulness before heading out in new directions.

The richness and power of their live sound is another factor, transforming these sophisticated meditations into visceral experiences. Four guitars, bass, drums, keys and a Tull-besting complement of not one but two flutes conjure a flood of sound. Newboy Jesse Chandler's multi-instrumental skills are all over everything, but even newer boy Max Townsley - something of a spit for School Of Seven Bells' axe-elf Ben Curtis - provides a dimension of blazing Les Paul solo freakout action that this band never had before. His concluding contribution to Van Occupanther's Branches must still be reverberating in Wilton's rococo rafters as we speak.

At the calm centre of this maelstrom, wizard-like singer and main songwriter Tim Smith sits on the smallest camp chair in existence, and exhales that warm breeze of a voice, lending emphasis to The Courage Of Others' still-unfamiliar grammar. He wobbles his eyebrows beatifically, as if slightly amused by his group's brilliance, while keening foil Eric Pulido looks as if he's permanently about to weep. Eccentric siren Stephanie Dozen (technically the boss's missus, since she is Bella Union label head Simon "Cocteau" Raymonde's better half) joins them on The Courage Of Others' epic Bring Down and suddenly it's CSN, Y and Joni too, brewing up a scintillating laryngial storm.

Midlake have an air of purpose about them right now. The Courage Of Others is the right record to turn those who've only heard of the band into converts. It is folkier, earthier, less reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours than Van Occupanther, but as richly steeped in melody. The album they've just made, as a "mere" backing/production group with The Czars' John Grant, is pretty great, too. Expect it in April.

Everything Midlake touch right now feels good. Maybe that's what happens when you get yourselves an aura.

Danny Eccleston
Pictures by: Simon Fernandez

Set List

Winter Dies
Children Of The Grounds
Small Mountain
Van Occupanther
Roscoe
Rulers
Core Of Nature
The Horn
Acts Of Man
The Courage Of Others
Bandits
Young Bride
Fortune
Bring Down
Head Home

Branches

Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 1:17 PM GMT 01/02/2010

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