Gig review: Midlake + The Bretheren at Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Doubled-down on the spectres of AM-FM rock, the Texan folk-rockers and Nashville-based associates unspool their work with an appreciative elegance and muscular ebb-and-flow to terrific effect.
Just four years have passed since the Texan sextet previously graced the stage of the Brudenell Social Club, compared to a decade-long hiatus between prior dates in the heart of the Yorkshire city.
Such comparative hastiness, at least according to the band themselves, may be chalked up to the selection of hot pies served at the bar; more reasonably, this return comes as they tout their sixth record, and third in the wake of original vocalist Tim Smith’s departure for pastures new.
Their latest collection, last year’s A Bridge to Far, has doubled-down on the spectres of AM-FM rock that have gradually come to haunt their strident folksiness. It it as readily apparent on the sleeve of guitarist Joey McClellan too, who doubles up with support act The Bretheren, best known as Elle King’s backing group.
Their brisk half-hour set sports the hallmarks of classic sounds with immaculately muscular ebb-and-flow: The Cheater, with its bourbon-soaked balladry, and Who’s to Say, built as a woozy midnight driver, offer enough keening hooks to suggest an inevitable staying power.
By the time McClellan has tweaked his beanie, the rest of Midlake have joined him, with Pulido leading from the front foot, awash in dad-joke patter and warm tenderness. It gilds the band’s performance with a genial air; the low-key thrum behind Bethel Woods, the rhythmic circularity that underpins Young Bride, the fuzz-button against-the-grain angst of Antiphon, all combined and unspooled with an appreciative elegance that wears its Buckingham-McVie influences with pride.
Throughout, Pulido continues a steady stream of dialogue, which he later admits helps him to ground the material. “I feel I’m getting sentimental in my old age,” he confesses before Roscoe, delivered with Midwestern sway and lusty singalongs.
“This has flown by. It’s what happens when you’re having fun, I suppose.” As he and his bandmates lock in for the propulsive high-mark of Head Home, it’s plain to see they’re far from the only ones enjoying themselves.