Midlake have announced a very special new vinyl pressing of their landmark 2006 second album, The Trials of Van Occupanther, available Friday, January 17 on the band’s own Midlake Records. Limited to 750 copies on Opaque Marigold, 180-gram vinyl, available at Indie Retailers, and 250 Black vinyl copies, which will be available on Midlake’s webstore, the new LP edition – re-mastered by Christopher Colbert (Nathaniel Rateliff, Richard Swift) and lacquer cut by Amy Dragon (Big Thief, Richard Thompson) will feature the 44-minute album’s original layout and labels from the very first pressing. Pre-orders are available now.
PRE-ORDER THE TRIALS OF VAN OCCUPANTHER (LIMITED EDITION VINYL)
To celebrate, Midlake have shared, for the first time, the official music video for the album’s classic opening track, “Roscoe,” directed by filmmaker Dan Fernbach and streaming now on YouTube.
“This video was shot on an absolutely beautiful piece of land in Oxfordshire, England while we were on tour in Europe,” says Midlake’s Eric Pulido. “We only had a day to shoot the video, so time was of the essence. We had worked with Dan before with Kingfish Pies, and loved his work on that, but didn’t have the chance to actually be a part of the video like we did with ‘Roscoe.’ It was an enjoyable process for all of us to dress up and ‘act’ together. The last scene where we’re all having a feast was quite nice. It was the end of the day, and although we were tired and hungry, I thought it was a perfect way to celebrate the day’s work. So don’t be fooled by the acting, the jubilation and hunger was pretty genuine.”
WATCH “ROSCOE” OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO
Originally released on July 25, 2006, The Trials of Van Occupanther proved an immediate milestone for Midlake, winning the Denton, TX-based band worldwide praise for their stunningly imaginative, meticulously crafted blend of high-concept invention, wondrous arrangements, and evocative pop songcraft built upon the archetypal sounds of bucolic folk, hazy psychedelia, and heartfelt soft rock. Suffused with a romantic yearning for the simpler life progress leaves behind, this was a record pitched between 1871, 1971, and somewhere out of time – between Henry David Thoreau and Neil Young, between Laurel Canyon thinking and a longing for something more mysterious. Rich reserves of wistful melody, dreamy horns, rolling guitars, and plaintive pianos fuel its elusive, idiosyncratic narratives: a couple long to be robbed by bandits so they can start anew, an outcast scientist ponders his pariah status, a woman chases a frisky deer, a river leads who knows where yet leaves you little choice but to follow…
Hailed by MOJO as “an unimpeachable record,” The Trials of Van Occupanther earned Midlake a passionate fan following – including such famous admirers as Thom Yorke, Beck, The Flaming Lips, Paul Weller, James Dean Bradfield, St. Vincent, and The Chemical Brothers – thanks in part to such timeless favorites as “Young Bride,” “Branches,” and of course, “Roscoe,” the latter named by Rolling Stone as one of the “100 Best Songs of the 2000s.” Midlake went on to explore new vistas throughout a still-evolving body of work that now includes 2010’s The Courage of Others, 2013’s shape-shifting Antiphon, and 2022’s critically acclaimed fifth album, For The Sake Of Bethel Woods. Now, the special new vinyl pressing of The Trials of Van Occupanther serves to remind what fertile seeds were sown with their visionary sophomore outing: a modern classic, made of vintage craft and enduring magic.
# # #
PRAISE FOR MIDLAKE AND THE TRIALS OF VAN OCCUPANTHER
“A bona fide classic…its very existence makes the world seem a better place.” – NME
“From the remote rock outpost of Denton, Texas, Midlake look lovingly to Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, but also to the darker genius of Peter Hammill. They have clearly listened closely to the Blue Nile’s debut and Radiohead’s OK Computer. However, they bring it all together in a vision of their own…The songwriting is rich, delivering an almost hallucinatory mix of pianos, horns, guitars and painfully wistful reminisces.” – THE GUARDIAN (****)
“As with Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois, we’re dealing with an invigorating, many-faceted work of diverse instrumentation and durability.” – MOJO
“The Trials of Van Occupanther jumps with both feet into the ‘70s of Laurel Canyon troubadours and soft rock balladeers…becoming one of the best examples of the sound and style you’ll ever hear, date of release notwithstanding…Indeed, it has lasting power that many records that sound so good on first listen lack.” – ALLMUSIC
“A nuanced, finely layered work…Midlake excels at carefully adorning their songs with just enough extras – a synth here, a piano there, a string section peeking through – to make the songs extraordinary.” POPMATTERS (9/10)
“The full-cream harmonies recall CSNY in their early pomp…Much of it sounds like the spiritual cousin of Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush and Harvest, sharing the same back-to-nature rusticity.” – UNCUT (****)
“Firmly planted in the idea-space of 1970s pastoral Americana/soft rock (though narratively nearer the 1870s), the pioneer ruralism of Thoreau rubs shoulders with blissed-out West Coast harmonies, CSNY, rolling piano, scuffed guitars and the English folk sensibilities of Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny et al… Its greatest achievement however is how utterly authentic and credible it sounds, mercifully free of copycat trappings, try-hard stylings or retro-hucksterism.” – CLASSIC ROCK (****)
“This is pop music for isolated log cabins, distant settlements with their own quasi-religions and individuals roaming with no real direction; it’s outsider songs and torch lamentations for those lacking a true guiding light. Midlake have, with The Trials Of Van Occupanther, crafted a truly delectably odd album of archaic echoes and future-classic choruses that’ll resonate from the next age to ones that no science fiction can inaccurately picture.” – DROWNED IN SOUND
“With The Trials Of Van Occupanther, Midlake has built a fragile fantasy world out of pieces of American history, the resonant sounds of churches and small-town music halls, and a basic sense of compassion…It’s earned the pangs of recognition it’ll get from those listeners who grew up with music seeping into the mystery-infatuated compartments of their subconsciouses.” – AV CLUB
“From electro-pop to classic-rock textures and alluring vocal harmonies, Denton fivepiece Midlake continues to elevate music, maturing structure and echo, this time without the maneuvering of technology… Nostalgic, sure, but comforting, meticulous, and complex.” – THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE
“The Trials of Van Occupanther flawlessly heralded a melodic potency of 1970s harmonies akin to Fleetwood Mac, and mined motifs from British prog-rock along the way.” – THE QUIETUS
“Despite all the shag-carpet throwbacks, (The Trials of Van Occupanther) rises above retro pastiche to probe its central character, the lovelorn, calendar-confined Van Occupanther; spacey production and allusive songwriting mark the album as a present-day artifact.” – PITCHFORK
“A world unto itself: a magical and mysterious place in which the listener can lose themselves… Even today, the record’s beautiful mysteries remain intact.” – PROG
# # #
MIDLAKE THE TRIALS OF VAN OCCUPANTHER (Midlake Records) | 
No comments:
Post a Comment