Midlake
This is the second outing for the Texas based lo-fi quintet Midlake, and sees them exploring 70's influenced soft rock to beautiful effect. Perfect vocal harmonies, layered guitar, strings and organs all contribute to make this a corny and yet surprisingly appealing piece of work.
The album begins with its finest moment. Roscoe could be a lost Fleetwood Mac classic. The lyric "When I was a child I wondered what if my name had changed to something more productive like Roscoe, and born in 1891 waiting with my aunt Roselyn," sets the scene of this song and, in fact, the whole album. It has an 'other worldly' quality to it as if hailing from a time long ago. Bandits floats gracefully on the breeze while Head Home picks up its feet slightly and threatens to disappear off into a classic Neil Young guitar solo but sadly never does. In This Camp does a similar thing but ups the anti a bit more making these two songs some of the most interesting moments. They change pace nicely with confident guitar work blowing out the cobwebs.
This record is so effortless in terms of a listening experience that I am surprised it doesn't become too easy and therefore forgettable, especially as it sometimes treads dangerously close to Travis territory. It's akin to looking through an old family photo album, with its bleached out images of you and your brother in 70's clothing, squinting at the sun, but then you keep flicking and the photos get older and you see how your grandparents used to live. There are moments of melancholy but overall the feeling of nostalgia is a comforting one.