VIA PRESS RELEASE | Midlake have announced a very special new vinyl pressing of their landmark 2006 second album, The Trials of Van Occupanther, available Friday, January 17 on the band’s own Midlake Records.
Limited to 750 copies on Opaque Marigold, 180-gram vinyl, available at Indie Retailers, and 250 Black vinyl copies, which will be available on Midlake’s webstore, the new LP edition—re-mastered by Christopher Colbert (Nathaniel Rateliff, Richard Swift) and lacquer cut by Amy Dragon (Big Thief, Richard Thompson) will feature the 44-minute album’s original layout and labels from the very first pressing. Pre-orders are available now. To celebrate, Midlake have shared, for the first time, the official music video for the album’s classic opening track, “Roscoe,” directed by filmmaker Dan Fernbach.
“This video was shot on an absolutely beautiful piece of land in Oxfordshire, England while we were on tour in Europe,” says Midlake’s Eric Pulido. “We only had a day to shoot the video, so time was of the essence. We had worked with Dan before with “Kingfish Pies,” and loved his work on that, but didn’t have the chance to actually be a part of the video like we did with “Roscoe.”
It was an enjoyable process for all of us to dress up and ‘act’ together. The last scene where we’re all having a feast was quite nice. It was the end of the day, and although we were tired and hungry, I thought it was a perfect way to celebrate the day’s work. So don’t be fooled by the acting, the jubilation and hunger was pretty genuine.”
Originally released on July 25, 2006, The Trials of Van Occupanther proved an immediate milestone for Midlake, winning the Denton, TX-based band worldwide praise for their stunningly imaginative, meticulously crafted blend of high-concept invention, wondrous arrangements, and evocative pop songcraft built upon the archetypal sounds of bucolic folk, hazy psychedelia, and heartfelt soft rock.
Suffused with a romantic yearning for the simpler life progress leaves behind, this was a record pitched between 1871, 1971, and somewhere out of time—between Henry David Thoreau and Neil Young, between Laurel Canyon thinking and a longing for something more mysterious. Rich reserves of wistful melody, dreamy horns, rolling guitars, and plaintive pianos fuel its elusive, idiosyncratic narratives: a couple long to be robbed by bandits so they can start anew, an outcast scientist ponders his pariah status, a woman chases a frisky deer, a river leads who knows where yet leaves you little choice but to follow…
Hailed by MOJO as “an unimpeachable record,” The Trials of Van Occupanther earned Midlake a passionate fan following—including such famous admirers as Thom Yorke, Beck, The Flaming Lips, Paul Weller, James Dean Bradfield, St. Vincent, and The Chemical Brothers—thanks in part to such timeless favorites as “Young Bride,” “Branches,” and of course, “Roscoe,” the latter named by Rolling Stone as one of the “100 Best Songs of the 2000s.”
Midlake went on to explore new vistas throughout a still-evolving body of work that now includes 2010’s The Courage of Others, 2013’s shape-shifting Antiphon, and 2022’s critically acclaimed fifth album, For The Sake Of Bethel Woods. Now, the special new vinyl pressing of The Trials of Van Occupanther serves to remind what fertile seeds were sown with their visionary sophomore outing: a modern classic, made of vintage craft and enduring magic.
