The Denton, Texas band make a welcome return with their distinctively warm, rich, psychedelic folk-rock, marked by close vocal harmonies, acoustic and pedal steel, keyboards and flute, this sixth studio album themed around hope, humility and perseverance, all as a human necessity. Is that sometimes out of reach? Not quite, as the wordplay of the title indicates, echoing, but subtlely different to the 1977 war movie A Bridge Too Far, reaching to a far more positive, peace-seeking sense of elsewhereness, and, not too, but to somewhere far, as the title track’s lyrics indicate: “The gloves are off the battle’s on / But you don’t want to be there when / Climb upon a bridge to far / Go anywhere your heart desires”. The opener Days Gone By is particularly gorgeous with rippling flute, piano and guitars, going to that vintage Midlake vocal harmony capturing the great circle of life, juxtaposing personal struggles with the eternal rhythm of the natural world—sun, moon, sky—offering perspective and peace: “Born into this world we die / Days gone by with the sun, and the moon and the skies.” Another single, The Ghouls, is also their classic Roscoe-era sound - gentle piano and flute breaking into a stirringly smooth, rock momentum. This song, as well as The Calling (with great horn section) and Guardians reflect on personal transformation, spiritual grounding, and the unseen forces that carry us forward. The latter includes a strong vocal duet between singer Eric Pulido and guest Madison Cunningham, while other guests Hannah Cohen and Meg Lui add harmonies across the record, overseen with lavish and sensitive production by Sam Evian (also associated with Big Thief, Hannah Cohen and Cass McCombs) at The Echo Lab in Midlake’s hometown of Denton, Texas. Another standouts include Eyes Full of Animal, which traces a moment of emotional misalignment, and the beautiful, delicate, emotional closer, Valley of Roseless Thorns: “All the kings and armies/ Fall under one accord / In the end, what was all of this for.” A bounteously beautiful, uplifting record, a real balm to the soul in darkly troubling times, in which the band have embellished and enriched that sound beloved to their fans from the past two decades. Out on Bella Union.
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