Midlake’s appearance in the New to Q Sessions has me puzzled. For the most part, the monthly rock magazine’s line-up for five nights at the Tabernacle is strictly full of emerging talent: Delphic, I Blame Coco, Ellie Goulding and Marina & The Diamonds. And then there’s the Texas fivepiece, around pretty much all the 2000s and well-known to many a discerning music fan.
No matter, though – though it can eventually be a bit too drowsy in large doses, Midlake’s forlorn, low-key indie-rock remains as pretty as ever. This is real Americana, songs about simple lives and rural legends with a keen sense of place and real soul. There are hints of Yeasayer’s first album in the melodic style, and generally an echo of old-fashioned rock sounds a la Fleetwood Mac, but really Midlake remain a separate breed. Their early-career jazz fancies seem long behind them.
Tickets for the Tabernacle gig (Friday 28 January) have long sold out, as have ones for a Shepherd’s Bush Empire show in mid-February. However, there are still spaces for a show at the vintage Wilton’s Music Hall in Whitechapel on Sunday 31 January, available here.
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MP3: Midlake – Head Home (M4A)