Midlake - Roscoe

After a rather successful 2006, Midlake launch their assault on 2007 with another release from ‘The Trials Of Van Occupanther’. One of Bella Union’s enviable roster of acts (including: Explosions In The Sky, The Kissaway Trail, The Dears, Dirty Three… the list goes on) all and sundry queued up to lavish praise on their second album last year. With critical success assured, the Texans seem ready to hammer it home with the re-release of one of their finer tracks.


Existing fans of the band will already be familiar with ‘Roscoe’, the striking opening track of the album that sees Midlake at their most Neil Young-sounding. Lyrically it rambles about the process behind fixing a roof (from the mountaineers cutting the timber to when the rain comes and the leaks are fixed) amongst other things, but in a wider context it is a hymn to the lost innocence of rural America. The pastoral ideal of a “neat village” is now “full of chemicals” and those mountaineers are now “all mixed up with no-one to stay with”. The song also speaks of a childish wondering about how it would have been to be born in another time (1891 to be precise) “building homes out of wood and stone”, adding a further layer to the nostalgic, anti-modern feel of the song.


The pastoral lyrics are backed up by an appropriately lo-fi folk-inspired indie-rock song, with a driving, Grandaddy-esque, rhythm section behind Tim Smith’s wistful vocals. A smattering of minor explosions of guitar and keyboard effects bubble under the surface of the song, and the layered vocal with added falsetto of the chorus perfectly encapsulates the feeling of yearning relayed throughout.


Apparently Midlake have been somewhat of a hit with the dance fraternity too, as not only is singer Tim Smith to feature on the Chemical Brothers’ forthcoming album, but this release comes backed with (count ‘em) five remixes. Justin Robertson’s Balearic House and ‘Club Dub’ mixes are probably best kept within the walls of said club (with the majority of Midlake’s fan base firmly the other side of the wall), while Cassettes Won’t Listen’s electronica is too leftfield, and has too much going on to give any real pleasure to the casual listener. Jody den Broeder’s progressive house mix actually manages to turn the original Americana into a decent dance track, but one can’t help reflecting with some irony on the contrast between the subject matter of what is essentially a folk song – that of celebrating a more innocent, traditional time – and the synthetic, progressive, electronic nature of these remixes. The Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve (AKA Erol Alkan and Richard Norris) remix is the only one of the five to really do something interesting with ‘Roscoe’. With dampened piano, backwards loops, and emphasising the chanting quality of the song, the duo turn it into something the 21st Century Thom Yorke would be proud of.


‘Roscoe’ is a very good song from a very, very good album and if you don’t own either it’s about time you did. As usual, the accompanying remixes are something of a patchy bunch and the nature of different genres of dance music means that very few will appreciate all of them. You never know though, the next time you are in a Balearic House club you might just hear the strains of a classic American folk song creeping through behind the beats…

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First published on rockfeedback.com. See it here.