This morning (October 25), Midlake announced its fifth studio album after almost a decade-long release hiatus. The folk-rock band hailing from Denton, Texas, and composed of musicians Eric Pulido, Eric Nichelson, McKenzie Smith, Jesse Chandler, and Joey McClellan, revealed that their upcoming album, titled FOR THE SAKE OF BETHEL WOODS, will drop on March 18, 2022.
In tandem with this long-anticipated announcement, the band also released the first single off of their forthcoming project. “Meanwhile…” is a funky, sure-footed display of Midlake’s evolved sound.
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“’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,” Eric Pulido said in a press statement. “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.”
Further, FOR THE SAKE OF BETHEL WOODS is the first collection of work that Midlake has recorded with an outside producer for a full-length project. Grammy-winning producer John Congleton helmed the production process at Elmwood Recording Studio in Dallas, Texas.
The band explained that inspiration struck from a desire to connect the past to present phases of life. Keyboardist/flutist Jesse Chandler’s father specifically inspired some of the band’s sonic movements and the record’s album art.
“At age 16 my father and his friend hitchhiked from Ridgewood, New Jersey to the Woodstock festival in 1969,” Chandler said. “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).”
Watch the official lyric video for “Meanwhile…” below.
Photo Credit: Barbara FG/Big Hassle Media