Midlake have announced their first new album in over 8 years. FOR THE SAKE OF BETHEL WOODS is out March 18 via ATO. Today, the Texas group have previewed the John Congleton-produced LP with the new single ‘Meanwhile…’, which you can check out below.
Midlake’s last album was 2013’s Antiphon, which saw guitarist Eric Pulido taking over as bandleader following the departure of Tim Smith. According to Pulido, ‘Meanwhile…’ “is a song referencing the time in between what transpired leading up to our hiatus in ’14, and what inspired us to reconvene in ’20. The former being an unhealthy and unsustainable place that called for pause and the latter a serendipitous visit from Jesse’s late father (Dave Chandler, depicted on the album cover) in a dream encouraging him to reunite with the band. Everyone had their respective experience during the uncertain time apart culminating in a confident and celebratory return to form.”
The new album’s cover artwork features a reproduction of an image of keyboardist Jesse Chandler’s father designed by visual artist Brian Lotti. “At age 16, my father and his friend hitchhiked from Ridgewood, NJ to the Woodstock festival in 1969,” Chandler said in a statement. “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).”
FOR THE SAKE OF BETHEL WOODS Cover Artwork:
FOR THE SAKE OF BETHEL WOODS Tracklist:
1. Commune
2. Bethel Woods
3. Glistening
4. Exile
5. Feast of Carrion
6. Noble
7. Gone
8. Meanwhile…
9. Dawning
10. The End
11. Of Desire