Your backstage pass to the DFW music scene and beyond.
Midlake has evolved from a self-described "hermitic" group of musicians into one of the region's buzziest bands.
With its 2006 album, The Trials of Van Occupanther, and popular singles Roscoe and Young Bride, the Tim Smith-led collective from Denton found itself the subject of breathless praise from critics overseas. Midlake's profile also rose at home; amid acclaim from American music writers, the band acquired high-profile fans like actor Jason Lee.
So when work began on what would become The Courage of Others, now in stores, Midlake found itself once again contemplating its next step -- but this time, the stakes were heightened.
"We put pressure on ourselves," says guitarist Eric Pulido. "[But] the label's always been really good to us and trusted us as far as making our records. We don't even know how it's going to sound at that point, starting out, but let's strive to make a better-sounding record ... something that is true to where we are -- that's all an album is."
Using cult favorites like Fairport Convention and Pentangle as touchstones, the 42-minute album is a wondrously gloomy work of woodsy melancholia; vocalist Smith's mournful tones slip into the dense instrumentation of tracks like Acts of Man and Small Mountain.
The fringes of indie rock have seen a boomlet of bands and musicians fascinated with the earthy strains of '70s folk music over the past few years, so in that respect, Midlake's ascension is perfectly timed. Yet, while acts like Fleet Foxes or Blitzen Trapper are fully enamored of similar sounds, they don't come close to Midlake's focused fusion.
"I think a lot of that music goes hand in hand with the imagery of that Renaissance, medieval-type vibe," Pulido says. "The imagery of Bruegel paintings and that communal type of living, of just having family and friends around with flutes and guitars playing.... These people just picked up their instruments and were playing together. It was something we really hadn't done ourselves, because we were so deliberate and analytical about recording. With this one, we tried to be more organic."
Although Midlake began its career sealed off from much of the rest of Denton, according to Pulido, the band has steadily opened itself up, recruiting locals like Sarah Jaffe and Robert Gomez as opening acts.
However obliquely, Denton's reputation as a free-flowing musical mecca indeed informs the whole of Courage, a point Pulido readily acknowledges.
"One of the things I love about Denton is you're never too far from someone to make music with," he says. "Obviously now we've been here for several years and become a part of the community and want to invest in this town that you're part of more than just, you're a band."
