The mellifluous, murmuring double-tracked croon of bandleader Tim Smith spirals through echoing piano, muffled drums, and quietly slashing electric guitars, all so commanding that there's no better way to react to it than to find a window to stare through—preferably one facing a grove of trees, swaying in an autumn wind. It's the kind of song worth stopping everything for.  Full text...

The Trials of Van Occupanther is such a nuanced, finely layered work that Midlake has certainly crafted one of the best releases of 2006.  Full text...

Midlake remind us of where we've come from and how we arrived - the marvel of evolution and but the humanity we lost through evolving. And like picking a Lewis Carroll text from the shelves and jumping - Jumanji-like - into its pages, this echo of the past has album of 2006 written all over it.  Full text...

Magically good.  Full text...

The result recall the genial eccentricity of Van Dyke Parks.  Full text...

This is pop music for isolated log cabins, distant settlements with their own quasi-religions and individuals roaming with no real direction; it's outsider songs and torch lamentations for those lacking a true guiding light.  Full text...

The Trials Of Van Occupanther reveals more of itself with each listen, quietly rooting itself into the subconscious. And that's just fine - this is a record to be savoured.  Full text...

One of 2006's best.  Full text...

Though this album is relaxed and finely polished, the tracks need more definition to make an impact, proving that understating doesn't always provide an efficient platform for ability.  Full text...

On their second album Texan five-piece Midlake strike a notable synthesis of '60s folk-rock and '70s AM radio hits - imagine a form of audio alchemy that takes in the Band, Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac and you're tuned to their frequency.  Full text...

Yet despite all the shag-carpet throwbacks, Midlake's new one rises above retro pastiche to probe its central character, the lovelorn, calendar-confined Van Occupanther; spacey production and allusive songwriting mark the album as a present-day artifact.  Full text...

The Trials of Van Occupanther is a more polished album than their more synth-reliant and lo-fi debut Bamnan and Silvercork, drawing heavily on older AOR acts like Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac.  Full text...

The Trials of Van Occupanther is a living example of "second album syndrome" — a valiant effort, but a little too much of an effort.  Full text...