Live Review: Midlake

Texas stargazing folk-rock outfit Midlake returned to our shores for the opening night of Sydney's brightest festival, Vivid, sharing the House with the Pixies. It was a big night that demanded the best from its performers, and Midlake fell short.

Their sound falls in between the idiosyncratic jangle-pop of The Shins and the sweet Americana of modern harmony-driven bands like Fleet Foxes. Their songs are full of detail and their latest, Antiphon, is no exception. Its key changes are sporadic and unpredictable, and the instrumentation and rhythm structure can at times be dense. The Joan Sutherland Theatre wasn't the right venue for it and the finer sounds were washed away completely by a mix that just wasn't compensating for the room's size and unique shape. Eric Pulido's voice, as lovely as it is, got lost and sat way back in the mix, and while the harmonies came through they had no real weight.

Jesse Chandler's recent contribution to the band on flute cannot be overstated in its evocative effectiveness. It adds warmth and beauty, and tempers the songwriting. It sounds lifted from a 1970s nature documentary and dovetails sweetly with Midlake's wide-eyed homegrown bombast. Chandler's efforts on the night weren't wasted, thankfully, and as his key moments shone during passages of relative tranquillity the merciful vacuum of sound that opened up as the band retreated allowed his notes and trills to hover undisturbed.

Most of their setlist was pulled from Antiphon, and if stories of the band's relief at replacing their frontman in the lead-up to that album are to be believed, the ease with which the band performed together was no surprise. Despite the disappointing mix, they felt strong and confident, yet relaxed, and it resulted in a tight show. The way it sounded however did not do them any justice.