Rating: 3/5
Verdict: Folk rockers' fine third album gets a little uniform
The music these cloaked and hooded Texans conjure up is stunning in its tranquility - and their unique brand of psych-folk rock has a mind-massaging effect.
Though the quintet's previous album, The Trials of Van Occupanther, had a classic soft rock bent, this third album is dreamy and wistful with rousing melodic moments and occasional outbreaks of smouldering noise.
Winter Dies moves beautifully from dulcet and forlorn into something more gritty, with arcing guitar distortion working its way through behind stirring vocal choruses, and a mass surge of instruments. It almost sets you off on a course of musical nirvana.
However, while initially The Courage Of Others is a record you feel as though you can soak in, its constant maudlin mood (which has much to do with singer Tim Smith's reedy and rich monotone) becomes samey and a little depressing across an entire album.
Nevertheless, Midlake are mesmerising and distinct, which comes through best on the lush and regal Rulers, Ruling All Things where Smith sings tellingly, "I only want to be left to my own ways".
Midlake's predominant sound is like wall-of-noise folk, but then come the outbreaks of wailing discord (The Courage of Others) and the flute and harpsichord serenades (In the Ground), making it an album for fans of everyone from Simon and Garfunkel and Led Zeppelin through to the Fleet Foxes and something more outlandish like Animal Collective.
