Midlake Share Single from 'For the Sake of Bethel Woods'

Midlake have announced the release of their eagerly awaited fifth studio album. "For the Sake of Bethel Woods" arrives via ATO Records in the US and Bella Union in the UK on Friday, March 18, 2022; pre-orders are available now. The Texas-based band's first new music since 2013's Antiphon, "For the Sake of Bethel Woods", is heralded by today's premiere of the vibrant first single, "Meanwhile...," available now.

Preorder the album here.

Midlake will celebrate their long-overdue return with a North American tour schedule, kicking off October 28 at Fort Worth, TX's Tulips and then traveling into 2022. Highlights include a very special two-night event alongside The Flaming Lips, set for December 30 and New Year's Eve at The Caverns in Pelham, TN, a subterranean music venue renowned for its prehistoric natural acoustics and otherworldly beauty.

Produced, engineered, and mixed by GRAMMY® Award-winner John Congleton (St. Vincent, Explosions in the Sky, Sharon Van Etten) at Elmwood Recording Studio in Dallas, TX, "For the Sake of Bethel Woods" marks Midlake's fifth full-length release and first time recording with an outside producer. The result is an album of immersive warmth and mystery from a landmark band once feared lost by fans, but here revived with freshness and constancy of intent. A desire to commune with the past and connect with the present, lived experience asserts itself throughout songs such as "Bethel Woods" - named of course for the site of 1969's original 37-acre Woodstock festival field - and the sky-scraping space-rock of "Exile."

That same resonant spirit is further embodied by the instantly memorable cover art, designed by pro skateboarder/filmmaker/visual artist Brian Lotti and featuring a striking photo of keyboardist/flautist Jesse Chandler's father, who tragically passed away in 2018.

A powerful, warming expression of resolve and renewal, "For the Sake of Bethel Woods", opens new futures for Midlake while still honoring their now storied history. Formed in the small town of Denton, TX, the band delivered an auspicious debut with 2004's Bamnan and Slivercork, followed two years later by 2006's wondrous and much beloved The Trials of Van Occupanther, both now rightfully hailed as modern classics.

Watch the new lyric video for the single here: