Midlake
The Trials Of Van Occupanther

THE REVIEW

It feels like being in that annoying TV commercial..

I lie down on the couch, and the shrink's voice asks me: "When I say Texas, what's the first thing that comes to your mind?"
1st synapse: G.W. Bush (oh my god.. I pretend nothing happened!)
2nd synapse: The new McDonald's menu (no, I must keep up appearances..)
3rd synapse: here we go.. Midlake!
You didn't expect that, did you?? I wonder what Freud would say..

Who are Midlake? A Texan quintet on their second album: "The Trials of Van Occupanther" (the first album "Banman and Silvercock" recorded in 2004 at Abbey Road Studios -true, after Cesare Cremonini anyone can do it-) Why review this album? First of all, because of the cover that immediately caught my eye: a yellow little man who seems to have just come out of Shyamalan's village, with a vacant and dazed expression, staring at a half-man-half (what?) being, which reminds me of a cleaned-up and withered Caposselian Minotaur (I have a vivid imagination, I know).. Bah..

The first song "Roscoe" is worth the whole album: keyboards, guitar, and basses almost whisper to make room for a warm and enveloping voice, capable of anesthetizing you. Followed by "Head Home", "Bandits", and only by the fourth song "Van Occupanther" (the anthropomorphic being on the cover) do I realize I have the same dazed expression as the yellow man! There's something about this strange creature that attracts and relaxes me.. makes me feel good. The singer Tim Smith has stated that he was influenced by Fleetwood Mac and Joni Mitchell...

Rather, I would suggest that, to give you an idea of their music, you take the Flaming Lips, Sparklehorse, the much-cited Grandaddy (who is now the grandparent to everyone a bit) and some even suggest the Thom Yorke of the "The Bends" era (I'd take this with a grain of salt), and lock them up in a bucolic ranch..

You'll start to get an idea of Midlake. In short, "The Trials Of Van Occupanther" is the classic CD that makes you want to get in the car and drive.. even just to run over the shrink!