Midlake: Antiphon – review

Despite the trauma of frontman Tim Smith's decision to leave the band late last year, after an abortive attempt to follow up 2010's The Courage of Others, Antiphon finds Texans Midlake picking up largely where they left off, with guitarist Eric Pulido now handling vocals. There are certainly nods to the schism: the soaring Aurora Gone seems to reference a separation and the title of tempestuous instrumental Vale presumably isn't a reference to Stoke-on-Trent's lesser-known football team. Yet despite the undercurrents of melancholia, Antiphon is another impeccably realised meld of bucolic 70s folk and radio-friendly soft rock, as warm and assured as it is adventurous.