Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther

After the success of debut album ‘Bamnan and Slivercork’ and being hotly tipped by the popular Jason Lee, ‘The Trials Of Van Occupanther’ has a lot to live up to.

Here Midlake radiate disenchantment with the madness of modern society and immerse themselves in the dreamy ethics of rural landscapes and sensible seventies inspired sounds.

This album’s forte is the featuring of some blissfully calm moments, such as the steadily crawling ‘Branches’, the peacefully finger picked ‘In This Camp’ and beautifully floaty ballad ‘Chasing After Deer’.

More upbeat tracks include the faster paced ‘It Covers The Hillsides’ and the contented ‘Van Occupanther’ which is a definite highlight with some glowing and harmonious vocals. ‘Young Bride’ also features a gripping contrast between Mackenzie Smith’s marching drumbeat and some warm string sounds.

Midlake are impressively accomplished musically and despite the samey quality of these songs, utilise a wide range of instruments. The gentle quiver of a flute features within ‘In This Camp’ and on top of some idyllic acoustic strums there is even a hint of a spacey synthesiser during ‘We Gathered In Spring’.

Tim Smith’s vocals are consistent but are overall too placid to be persistent. The lyrics are a definite strong point, however, and capture the band’s inflective ideology. During the arresting ‘Bandits’ Smith fantasises about being “overrun by bandits” and “handing over all of your things”, whilst the preceding ‘Head Home’ muses how “they must have all gone off without me again”.

Midlake give the impression that they are capable of producing something with a little more verve and holding power. Though this album is relaxed and finely polished, the tracks need more definition to make an impact, proving that understating doesn’t always provide an efficient platform for ability.