Midlake: The Trials of Van Occupanther (LP+7", gold vinyl) [BELLA UNION]

Why you'll love it

This edition puts the album on gold vinyl and adds a bonus 7". "Roscoe" came in at No. 90 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest songs of the 2000s.

This edition

• Gold vinyl
• Bonus 7"
• 180g vinyl
• Reverse board sleeve
• Download card included

About the album

Some albums feel like they were found rather than made. Midlake's second album is a soft-focus trip into an imagined past of woodsmen, settlers and quiet heartbreak, all built by five musicians from Denton, Texas, with flutes, pianos, 12-string guitars and soft-rock harmonies that recall the best of the 1970s.

Tim Smith wrote every song and played everything from flute to piano, while Eric Pulido, Eric Nichelson, Paul Alexander and McKenzie Smith filled in the layers (Alexander even brings out a bassoon). "Roscoe" became the band's signature song, Linda Salisbury's French horn graces "Branches" and the title track, Josh Ello adds violin to "Young Bride," and "Head Home" and "It Covers the Hillsides" roll along beautifully. They recorded and mixed it themselves in Denton, and Alan Douches mastered it at West West Side Music, giving the whole thing a warm, woody glow that suits the songs perfectly.

Bella Union reissued it with new art for its tenth birthday, and it keeps finding new listeners. It sounds as if it was made in a log cabin with a very good flute player on retainer.

Also at Kops: more Midlake on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Bella Union (cat# BELLA117VNG), a reissue of the 2006 album.