ABOUT THIS ITEM

Recorded in 2001, before even their debut album "Bamnan & Slivercork" was conceived, this EP revisits Midlake in their early years, and illustrates their diverse musical journey throughout the years. The songs here sound more than a little like Radiohead, not just in Tim Smith's voice but in the quality of songwriting.
It opens with the blurry, psychedelic swirls of "She Removes Her Spiral Hair," which is a heated duel between cycling guitars and sixties-style electric organ. Tim Smith glides through it like a drunken Mark Linkous, wistfully murmuring that "sometimes the starlight, sometimes the starlight disappears..." Things get a bit less wonky over the next few songs: slow-moving, mournful/hopeful folk, and staccato guitar-rock laced with sweeps of fuzzy, effervescent synth. There's also some half-obscured piano pop that is so heavily soaked in fuzz that you can hardly identify what the music is made of. In the final round of songs, Midlake gets an even firmer grip on this older style: psychedelic piano balladry, fuzzed-out bells that blossom into rollicking indie pop, and finishing up with the poignant, lo-fi murmurs of "Golden Hour." It's a pretty ending.

1. She Removes Her Spiral Hair
2. Paper Gown
3. Excited But Not Enough
4. I Lost My Bodyweight In The Forest
5. Simple
6. Roller Skate (Farewell June)
7. Golden Hour