Neon Musical Insight

Review by Caitlin Wittlif

Though I can’t claim tremendous pride in my home state of Texas (what can I say, I’m a vegetarian liberal, y’all), I am completely in the corner of our local bands.  I think Texas’ vibrant music scene is exciting, interesting, and worth having a lot of pride for. So, I was thrilled to review Denton, Texas’ breakout indie band Midlake’s new album, The Courage of Others. However, though Midlake boasts diverse influences and rich, interesting past records, their third full-length is almost exclusively a one-track journey into Woodstock forest folk-rock, entering some Tolkien realm but without the bravado or drama of Zeppelin.

From the first track, “Acts of Man,” singer Tim Smith introduces his Andrew Bird-but-sleepier vocals, and they never seem to leave a very limiting range of melodic notes for the entire record. The harmonies recall Peter, Paul and Mary, but the songs they float through don’t really let them soar to any distance. By the third song, “Small Mountain,” there is a sense that you could still be listening to the first. Beautiful guitar and flute flourishes become repetitive, and everything seems a bit muddy, as if the guys are afraid of embracing their jazz-playing past, refusing to step out for the impressive solo work they are surely capable of.

The best song on the album is the only clearly distinctive one, “Fortune.” This is more folk-pop than folk-rock, with the most interesting melody that finally allows Smith’s voice to lilt and comfort the ears.  The acoustic guitar droplets reflect the rainy-day imagery in the song, and it is the brightest tune on the record by far. However, the group dives right back into the darkness on “Rulers, Ruling All Things,” which shows just a pinch more attitude than the other tunes, but still seems to drone.

Of the ten similar-sounding songs on the record, “Bring Down” is one of the two best because of the sweet flavor the female vocalist adds to the mix. With only a minute left, there is a warm moment where a chorus of voices complete the song and envelop the listener. The title track is the second best song of the pack, with the addition of bells to the rhythm section. There are some cool key changes within the song that give it more personality, too. The last tune, “In the Ground,” has “Stairway to Heaven” potential as tension builds, but there is never a payoff; only a quiet breakdown that fades away.

After a record as dynamic as The Trials of Van Occupanther, Courage left me scratching my head. Perhaps it was a too-earnest attempt to run from the Radiohead comparisons, or too many hallucinogen-induced songwriting trips, but, though the note Courage hits is a pretty one, after 11 tracks and over 40 minutes of it, the beauty will seem empty.

** / ***** 2 out of 5