Midlake – The Courage Of Others

by Matthew James on February 22nd, 2010

Midlake – The Courage Of Others
February 2nd, 2010
Bella Union
Score: 3.2

I have never played the role playing fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons (I’m far too cool for that, honest). But if I did, then I imagine The Courage Of Others would make for vital background music. On this, Midlake’s third album, you get the sense that should anyone on Broadway have the desire to make a stage adaptation of Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings trilogy, then these are the guys to bring in to do the words and music. This is not an album for the faint of heart, nor for those grounded in reality and I’ve got to say, it’s not really an album for me. But if you have a penchant for the mystical, the opening part of ‘Stairway To Heaven’ before Jimmy Page rocks the fuck out, or you secretly sip wine from a medieval style goblet while wearing a viking helmet, then there might just be something for you here.

Any early comparisons to the likes of Grandaddy or Radiohead are well and truly missing from this record. You will find a lot of folky Zeppelin and Jethro Tull as you keep half expecting Ian Anderson and his flute to show up at any time. That Tenacious D song ‘Dio’ is often brought to mind where Jack Black speaks of “songs of wilderbeasts and dangers” and that is fine when it’s all a laugh; the problem is Midlake give off the impression they are deadly serious. When Tim Smith sings, “I will take my rest with all the creatures who dwell under the smallest of green” on ‘Core Of Nature’, it’s hard not to smirk, but rest assured Smith isn’t having a laugh.

To be fair, there are some nice arrangements based around acoustic guitar and woodwind instruments and technically, Smith does have a fine singing voice.  The album gets bogged down though in all the unworldly lyrics and unchanging sounds. ‘Rulers, Ruling All Things’ is the exception, a brooding epic that threatens to explode and is the only song that really keeps interest. “I only want to be left to my own ways” sings Smith which as a statement that can only be admired. He obviously has the conviction to create this world that Midlake resides in and you can draw parallels to something like Weezer’s ‘In The Garage’. The advantage Weezer had back in the day was that they could write great accessible tunes that made being a bit of a nerd cool. Cool is unlikely to be a term used when describing The Courage Of Others.

At times, it can be very hard to distinguish the tracks from each other. The pace of the album is very consistent with little variation in mood or direction. It all just gets a little too self-indulgent. On the title track, I get the sense that Smith might be attempting to write a song about a girl with a line such as “I will never have the courage of others/I will not approach you at all”. But instead of thinking about a young man in the 21st century dealing with shyness, you imagine a young would-be warrior in middle earth scared of facing a rampant bunch of blood-crazed Centaurs. And this is probably where Midlake meet their biggest failing. To totally fall for a song or an album, you have to believe it, live it, and feel it. Sure, music can be an escape from real life but something so pompous and grand needs to have something the listener can grab a hold of and make a part of their own world. Sadly, unless there is a sudden outbreak of dragons that need slaying, Midlake’s world is going to be just for them.

Matthew James

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