Recorded in Texas and mixed at Abbey Road (by label patron/ ex-Cocteau Simon Raymonde), Midlake’s debut has encouraged ecstatic comparisons with The Flaming Lips and Radiohead. That’ll be due to their stratospheric harmonies (take album opener “They Cannot Let It Expand”, a Fisher-Price-toy Yoshimi tribute) and the vocal similarity between singer Tim Smith and Thom Yorke. The two elements fuse majestically on “Kingfish Pies”, the highlight of an album which justifies the expectations such prestigious comparisons invite.
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