Harp : Albion

It’s been 13 years since Midlake’s former singer/songwriter Tim Smith has released any new music. Midlake’s 2010 release The Courage of Others was a dark, somber record built on acoustic-driven tracks with touches of flute and overcast moods. Nothing as driving and 70s rock-driven as their previous effort – the excellent The Trials of Van […]

For The Love Of Roscoe: Looking Back On Midlake’s ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’

2007. It was a pretty good year for music. Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky, Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Radiohead’s In Rainbows, Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible, LCD Soundsystem’s Sound of Silver, Nine Inch Nails’ Year Zero, of Montreal’s Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, just to name a few. All of those mentioned albums had […]

Goodbye Van Occupanther: Tim Smith and life after Midlake

In the fall of 2007 I read an article in Spin Magazine about this band named Midlake. Denton, Texas boys with a penchant for dark, folksy songs that had the feel of both Fairport Convention, Fleetwood Mac, and a Ray Brandbury story. It was a review of a live show and the journalist put them […]