Midlake - For The Sake Of Bethel Woods. LP
Loss and hope, isolation and communion, the cessation and renewal of purpose. Timeless and salient, these themes echo throughout the fifth album from Midlake, their first since ‘Antiphon’ in 2013.
A desire to commune with the past and connect with present, lived experience asserts itself from the opening of the album. ‘Bethel Woods’ sustains and develops that reconnection, evoking the steadfast and contemplative urgency of ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’ to back a lyric steeped in yearning for a paradisal time and place of hope and optimism. Soaring guitars and atmospheric noise effects extend a sonic scope further developed by ‘Glistening,’ where arpeggios dance like light glancing off a lake. In just three songs, Midlake reintroduce themselves and reach out into fresh territory with a richly intuitive dynamism, honouring their past as a seedbed of possibility. Elsewhere, the prog-enhanced funk-rock of ‘Gone’ seeks to find hope in relationships that seem fragile. The ELO-esque ‘Meanwhile…’ draws inspiration from what happened when Midlake paused after ‘Antiphon’, developing universal resonance as a song about the beautiful growths that can emerge from the cracks and gaps between things. ‘Dawning’ draws on 1970s soft-rock stylings for another song searching for hope, its keyboard line reaching out towards an uncertain future while everything seems to collapse around it; ‘The End’ reflects on the difficulties of partings.
On-hand was new collaborator John Congleton, who produced, engineered and mixed the album, marking Midlake’s first record with an outside producer. The result is a powerful, warming expression of resolve and renewal for Midlake, opening up new futures for the band and honouring their storied history.
TRACKLISTING:
1. Commune
2. Bethel Woods
3. Glistening
4. Exile
5. Feast of Carrion
6. Noble
7. Gone
8. Meanwhile…
9. Dawning
10. The End
11. Of Desire
