Saturday, June 10, 2006

Trials

I bought the Midlake album this morning and am playing it now. It does possess a seventies soft-rock feel but I say this not as a bad thing. The Trials of Van Occupanther is charming. The song I love is Young Bride. I’ve heard it on BBC 6Music about three or four times and it is a stunning song full of haunting melody and a tangible melancholia. The use of violin is perfect. I don’t know if anyone shares this view but when I buy an album and I know one of the songs already, I’m often tempted to skip that track for a while in order to let the rest of the album ‘catch up’. I might do that on this occasion. Or maybe not*.

The England match against Paraguay was tense and error strewn, particularly in the second half when ‘the lads’ lacked a little shape. The early goal settled the nerves (for me and ‘the lads’) though and, to be fair, the South Americans rarely threatened the England area or goal. The Paraguayans are no mugs having defeated both Brazil and Argentina in qualification. Their pedigree should put today’s result into context. Yes, it was a touch scrappy and somewhat disappointing but the three points were crucial. A win against Trinidad and Tobago next week should see England into the last 16.

* I didn't.

2 comments:

Leif said...

The Midlake album is really good but I struggled with it initially because it's quite a progression from "Bamnan & Silvercork", which I really love. "Young Bride" is perhaps the closest song on the new album to the stuff on the old one, like "Balloon Maker" and "Kingfisher". The new album features more complete songs but they're both great.

Cole said...

Thanks. I'm really keen to get their first album now - I love 'Trials'.