ANTIPHON

Though only having briefly heard their second "folkish" album Occupanther and their psychier Courage, I never really thought of Midlake as a prog folk or folk-prog group, but then again, my only experience with the band (so far) is their latest/fourth: the impressive Antiphon. The sober artwork is intriguing enough with mainly black but also red-orange-yellow and pale green colours throughout the gatefold and lyric sheet.

Their music is a form of alternate rock with some prog touches, not least of which is a generally luxuriant array of instruments - vintage or sampled remains to be seen, since we don't have the right of information in the leaflet - though a quick glance on PA gave me the answer I was looking for. In many ways, we're somewhere between Muse, Decemberist, the 90's Radiohead, Paatos and a few more of the ilk. This change in direction is probably the result of their former leader, but the band doesn't seem to suffer from his departure, thus hinting they might've had bigger roles than initially thought. The first few tracks are very accessible and dare I say slightly poppy, though relatively fast and "rock". About halfway through, the general mood is calmer and more introspective, maybe a tad proggier, because it seems that more space is left to the instrumental passages, especially in the haunting Ages. Another highlight is Corruption with his delicate textures, not unlike Landberk or Paatos.

So, if there were folk influences in their previous albums, in the present, they'd have o be buried pretty deep should there be any. Never mind the pigeonholes; we're left with a fairly interesting album of modern prog that probably exceeds what one might have expected from a band having lost their artistic leader.