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Van Occupanther's spell finally breaks a little more than halfway through its 11 tracks, when the songs begin to feel more fussed-over and conceptual and less organic, but the warmth never fades.
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The Trials of Van Occupanther is such a nuanced, finely layered work that Midlake has certainly crafted one of the best releases of 2006.
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While The Trials of Van Occupanther may never be more than a cult favorite, those seeking to till peculiarly American musical soil will undoubtedly reap a rewarding and plentiful harvest.
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Entertainment WeeklyMidlake excel at lush, harmony-laden ballads like "Bandits" and the heart-tugging goodbye song "You Never Arrived." [4 Aug 2006, p.68]
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Midlake might be stuck in the '70s, but they make it sound like the best place on earth.
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A truly delectably odd album of archaic echoes and future-classic choruses.
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The good far outweighs the bad on this lack-of-thread-concept-album, and if you are dying to hear a modern day take on the 70’s soft rock band, check out Midlake.
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MojoAs with Sufjan Stevens' Illinois, we're dealing with an invigorating, many-faceted work of diverse instrumentation and durability. [Jul 2006, p.106]
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Compared variously to The Flaming Lips and Grandaddy, Midlake's take on '70s soft rock is actually better than both.
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This could well end up one of 2006's best.
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UncutMuch of it... sounds like the spiritual cousin of Neil Young's After The Gold Rush and Harvest, sharing the same back-to-nature rusticity. [Jul 2006, p.101]
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Nostalgic, sure, but comforting, meticulous, and complex.
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The warmth and the easy familiarity enable The Trials of Van Occupanther to stand on its own.
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Van Occupanther feels like a contrarian response to so many bands copping from ’60s psych-pop and ’80s New Wave while leaving out everything in between.
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I really struggled with whether Van Occupanther's literary, slightly nerdy, Ren-fair-leaning lyrics were more of a help or a hindrance to the album.... But at least Midlake risked the ridiculous.
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Under The RadarThe Trials of Van Occupanther is a beautiful piece of moody ambience, and an enchanting album that ultimately continues to reveal itself even after numerous listens. [#14]
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MagnetSeductively strange. [#73, p.98]
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An encouraging but ultimately disappointing contemplation of time's ceaselessness, love's promise, and Harvest-era Neil Young.
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Despite [some] fine moments, occasionally Van Occupanther can feel a little too slick and one-note.
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So while the subdued vocal harmonies and acoustic folk influences of 70s pop bands Chicago and America can be heard, there is enough intricately layered dream-pop floating around the fleshed-out orchestrations to keep indie-rock fans contented.
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Q MagazineSmooth and intermittently sublime it may be, but their previous weirdness is much missed. [Jun 2006, p.117]
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The uniformity of song structure, tone and tempo, though initially captivating, soon becomes monotonous.
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A painful disappointment.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 38 out of 42
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Mixed: 1 out of 42
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Negative: 3 out of 42
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Jul 4, 2015
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Nov 1, 2012
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Feb 27, 2012