Midlake has unveiled an exclusive live performance of their recently released new single, “Meanwhile…,” streaming now via YouTube. The captivating performance – filmed at Dallas, TX’s Modern Electric Sound Recorders by director Rett Rogers (Nicole Atkins, Nathaniel Rateliff) and co-director Barbara FG – marks the first in a new multi-part series of exclusive live sessions, “Meanwhile In Texas 2021,” with additional installments set to premiere in the coming weeks.
WATCH “MEANWHILE… (MEANWHILE IN TEXAS 2021)”
“Meanwhile…” heralds the eagerly awaited arrival of Midlake’s upcoming fifth studio album, For The Sake Of Bethel Woods, due via ATO Records in the US and Bella Union in the UK on Friday, March 18, 2022; pre-orders are available now. The original version of “Meanwhile…” is available now at all DSPs and streaming services; an official lyric video is streaming now at YouTube.
WATCH “MEANWHILE…” OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO
Midlake will celebrate their long-overdue return with a wide-ranging tour schedule, including a very special two-night event alongside The Flaming Lips, set for December 30 and New Year's Eve at The Caverns in Pelham, TN, a subterranean music venue renowned for its prehistoric natural acoustics and otherworldly beauty. European and UK headline dates get underway March 16, 2022 in Gothenburg, Sweden; North American dates will be announced soon. For complete details and ticket information, please visit www.midlakeband.com/tour.
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Produced, engineered, and mixed by GRAMMY® Award-winner John Congleton (St. Vincent, Explosions in the Sky, Sharon Van Etten) at Elmwood Recording Studio in Dallas, TX, For The Sake Of Bethel Woods marks Midlake’s fifth full-length release and first time recording with an outside producer. The result is an album of immersive warmth and mystery from a landmark band once feared lost by fans, but here revivified with freshness and constancy of intent. A desire to commune with the past and connect with present, lived experience asserts itself throughout songs such as “Bethel Woods” – named of course for the site of 1969’s original 37-acre Woodstock festival field – and the sky-scraping space-rock of “Exile.” That same resonant spirit is further embodied by the instantly memorable cover art, designed by pro skateboarder/filmmaker/visual artist Brian Lotti and featuring a striking photo of keyboardist/flautist Jesse Chandler’s father, who tragically passed away in 2018.
“At age 16 my father and his friend hitchhiked from Ridgewood, NJ to the Woodstock festival in 1969,” says Chandler. “This image of him with his hand to his face appears in the 1970 Woodstock documentary, as the camera pans across the crowd during John Sebastian’s set. My father actually ended up moving to Woodstock, NY – where I grew up – in 1981. For me, the picture of that kid, my dad, forever frozen in time, encapsulates what it means to be in the throes of impressionable and fleeting youth, and all that the magic of music, peace, love and communion bring to it, whether one knows it at the time or not. (I think he knew it).”
A powerful, warming expression of resolve and renewal, For The Sake Of Bethel Woods opens new futures for Midlake while still honoring their now storied history. Formed in the small town of Denton, TX, the band delivered an auspicious debut with 2004’s Bamnan and Slivercork, followed two years later by 2006’s wondrous and much beloved The Trials of Van Occupanther, both now rightfully hailed as modern classics. Bolstered by a growing fanbase and a developed sense of their own far-reaching abilities, Midlake evinced a characteristic embrace of change by visiting darker psych-folk terrain on 2010’s The Courage of Others while also backing John Grant on that same year’s milestone album, Queen of Denmark. Guitarist Eric Pulido stepped into the role of lead vocalist with 2013’s exploratory Antiphon, joined by new members Jesse Chandler (keyboards, piano, flute) and Joey McClellan (guitars).
Since then, Midlake have been active on an array of fronts, including the all-star project BNQT, founded by Pulido and featuring Fran Healy (Travis), Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand), Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), and Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), backed by Chandler, McClellan, and Midlake drummer McKenzie Smith.
Midlake is: Eric Pulido, Eric Nichelson, McKenzie Smith, Jesse Chandler, and Joey McClellan.
MIDLAKE
FOR THE SAKE OF BETHEL WOODS
(ATO Records)
Release Date: Friday, March 18, 2022
