Bamnan and Slivercork
Label: Bella Union
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Bamnan and Slivercork
Although they hail from the ultrahip Dallas appendage known as Denton, the sound Midlake concocts is more psychedelic English meadow than U.S. college town. Richly steeped in off-kilter pop and the psychedelic dressings that make it interesting, Midlake could be a sort of rusty, organic cousin to Radiohead. Midlake’s odd beauty comes not from overarching artistic sentiment, but from a creaky kind of pastoralism. Though Bamnan does occasionally get a little too precious for its own good, none of the songs manage to be distractingly self-indulgent. Tracks like the pulsing, Weill-esque “The Jungler” and the Neutral Milk Hotel homage of “Balloon Maker” manage to be evocative without being ridiculously so.
This article appears in Jun 30 – Jul 6, 2004.