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Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther CD (album) cover

THE TRIALS OF VAN OCCUPANTHER

Midlake

 

Prog Folk

3.79 | 50 ratings

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Frankie Flowers
3 stars It's great to see Midlake are here on the prog archives. I was very pleased to discover this Texan band upon this album's release. This was their second studio album, and as another reviewer pointed out, there are heavy influences from 1970's American-styled psychedelic folk-rock such as Neil Young and I also feel some Fleetwood Mac among others, especially on the opening track "Roscoe". It's a lush, melodic album and well-constructed with emotional, harmonic vocals sometimes reminding me of Simon and Garfunkel, though at the same time there's still no mistaking their sound for anyone else's. The lyrics are often enchanting bringing up imagery set in woodlands, boats and log cabins; telling some moving tales of pioneering, travel and isolation. It really has the power to take the listener away. 'Bandits' delivers a nice message to reflect on about our possessions. The instrumentation is wonderful, nice work from the flute and acoustics and also analog synthesisers. The first three songs are the strongest, "Head Home" being the best of all. I'll have to agree with Finnforest that the second half of the album isn't quite as strong as the first half, though there are some fine melancholic pieces. I really like "We gathered In Spring" with its glistening 80's sounding keyboards and "It Covers The Hillsides" is really nice too, though the last two pieces sound like bonus tracks. This is a good album in all however, highly recommended to fans of the prog-folk genre.
Frankie Flowers | 3/5 |

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