Midlake
Courage of Others
one of bella union's most successful and celebrated acts midlake make their longawaited return with 'the courage of others' their extraordinary third album it's ironic that midlake's new album is titled 'the courage of others' because if anything the courage is all theirs namely the courage to do what feels right and stay true to the spirit of artistic independence whilst ignoring any pressure to conform to expectations the result is the texas quintet's third album their most complete and beautiful body of work yet best appreciated as a whole in the oldfashioned sense of an album which makes perfect sense when you know midlake linchpin tim smith's fondness for the look and feel of past times so what's changed since 'the trials of van occupanther' their second hugely loved breakthrough album just as that record was in part inspired by the softer rock of the earlytomid 1970s from neil young and america to fleetwood mac so midlake's new album also looks to a slightly earlier and definitely british tradtainted folk sound it may share the same gorgeously analoguewarm electroacoustic template as 'van occupanther' but it's a slower darker and more carved record both eerier and dreamier perfect in other words for its february release date at the height of winter neither do the new songs feature any hermitscientists like 'van occupanther' or the mythical roscoe the songs that constitute the courage of others tim says are closer to his heart than those of their first two albums because 'i don't feel i'm looking at the songs through someone else's eyes i've tried to keep it as true to myself as i could' guitarist eric pulido adds 'we didn't want to make the same album as 'van occupanther' so we carried on moving and creating and pushing for a newer sound and emotion'
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