Midlake – The Courage of Others (Bella Union)

Hailing from the aggressively musical town of Denton, Texas, the enigmatic quintet MIDLAKE has been beguiling its audience for several years now. On The Courage of Others, the band’s third full-length album, the group tones down (but doesn’t eliminate) some of its more progressive and psychedelic rock tendencies and dials up the British folk rock that has been almost subliminal in its prior work. That doesn’t mean electrified takes on jigs and reels, but more of a haunted, almost ancient-sounding atmosphere, as if leader TIM SMITH is channeling the wisdom of the ages for the benefit of the present. In more practical terms, it also means more acoustic guitars, minor keys, sonorous vocals and prominently placed flute passages. The end result is a set of absolutely gorgeous songs, with tunes like “Core of Nature,” “Children of the Grounds” and “Acts of Man” sounding like melancholy dreams set to music. The Courage of Others rearranges the rules Midlake wrote for itself on previous outings, but the game change just makes the band stronger. .

http://www.midlake.net
http://www.bellaunion.com