A Bridge To Far. Midlake

After a string of singles in the past months announcing Midlake's new album, I find myself liking the album a lot better than I expected on the basis of these singles. During the first listening session with A Bridge To Far it became clear fast that the songs work far better in an album context. A Bridge To Far is another fine Midlake album.

Looking at the backlog of this blog, I found to my surprise a Midlake album from 2022, 'For The Sake Of Bethel Woods'. I had forgotten all about it. Reading the review I liked the album a lot, so what happened? Most likely an overload of new music, as there is so much coming my way in an average week.

Having had several sessions with A Bridge To Far so far, I have totally come around to the soft atmosphere that the band shares. Soft is something totally different from boring in this case. Each song comes with a host of intricate sounds that are sprinkled out over them. Midlake even choses to rock some here and there. What I also notice is an influence of Traffic, in the way folk is woven into the alternative music. The use of a flute is another sign of this. Chris Wood's ghost is not far away on some songs.

Midlake is one of the bands that has survived the leaving of its principle songwriter and singer. All three records released since Tim Smith left in 2012 have a level of quality that deserves the name Midlake. Although there has been a hiatus of nearly ten years between 'Antiphon' and 'For The Sake Of Bethel Woods', the band from Denton, Texas, has found its stride once again.

All throughout the album dreamlike female vocals can be heard. Madison Cunningham, Hannah Cohen, and Meg Lui make the album sound like a dream with their contributions. In a song like 'Make Haste' there is a huge lead guitar as well, but also here because of the way it is mixed into the song, it is like it comes from another dimension. A trick Midlake repeats a few times during the album. There's the band and then there's other stuff going on. It makes A Bridge To Far an album to listen to at different levels. It really is as if the music and background singing come from another dimension.

Of course, Midlake sounds like Midlake. Somehow Eric Pulido's voice makes Tim Smith's expendable and forgotten. The band undeniably has its own sound. And yet, A Bridge To Far is not an exercise in repeating itself. The album has a unique vibe and all these extras as I described just now. The music is of a richness that brings it closer to the mood on a Pink Floyd record from the mid-1970s, if you forget the symphonic stuff. It is that rich though.

With A Bridge To Far Midlake surprised me no little. Time will tell, but for me this could be the band's best album to date. This conclusion will take many more listening sessions. Don't worry, I will not forget to play A Bridge To Far a lot more than I did so far.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order A Bridge To Far here:

https://midlakeband.bandcamp.com/album/a-bridge-to-far