Midlake announce first album in 10 years, share "Meanwhile..."

Midlake will be back with For The Sake of Bethel Woods, their first new album in nearly a decade, on March 22 via ATO/Bella Union. Their fifth album, it marks the first time the band have worked with an outside producer, John Congleton, who also engineered and mixed the album.

The album is named for the site of the 1969 Woodstock festival and the town is where flautist/keyboard player Jesse Chandler grew up. The album cover is an illustration based on his father at the original Woodstock. “At age 16 my father and his friend hitchhiked from Ridgewood, NJ to the Woodstock festival in 1969,” says Chandler. “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).”

The first single from the album is “Meanwhile…,” which is a typically lush Midlake creation and a wink towards the band’s absence. “’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,” says singer/guitarist Eric Pulido. “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.”

Watch the lyric video for “Meanwhile…” below.

Midlake have a few Texas shows coming up and they’ll also be part of The Flaming Lips‘ two-day New Year’s Eve Underground Celebration in Grundy, TN. All dates are listed below.

Tracklist:
Commune
Bethel Woods
Glistening
Exile
Feast of Carrion
Noble
Gone
Meanwhile…
Dawning
The End
Of Desire

MIDLAKE – 2021 TOUR DATES
OCTOBER 28 – Fort Worth, TX – Tulips
OCTOBER 29 – Austin, TX – 3TEN
NOVEMBER 26– Fort Worth, TX – Tulips
NOVEMBER 27 – Austin, TX – 3TEN
DECEMBER 30-31 – Pelham, TX – The Caverns (The Flaming Lips 2 Night New Year’s Underground Celebration)