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Midlake

Roscoe

Label: Bella Union Release Date: 31/07/2006

14619
crablin by Colin Roberts July 31st, 2006

This song could easily open a late 70s US situational drama, were it not for the gently affecting vocals of one Tim Smith, mutating what could easily end up in MOR hell into something a little more interesting.

'Roscoe' does still lack a lilt or two, though. Verse into chorus into verse and I still feel somewhat less than displaced, despite the haunting vocals and the sort of minor melodic twists that I generally die for.

That's not to say that this single lacks merit, far from it: 'Roscoe' oozes emotive lyrical calls and the choral coos of the refrain pull this song out of the background and leave it sitting out on the patio, drenched in rain.

Instrumentally, this song is like a MIDI example that you'd find with a school-orientated piece of music software, but when the vocal melodies open out over the top, it takes a life of its own.

Nowhere near perfect but most definitely worth investigating.

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