For me, it’s always nice when a band or performer skirts easy musical categorization, providing music you night not expect, and doing it well.

This week, we have the latest album by a band called Midlake, called A Bridge To Far. For one thing, Midlake is from Texas, but they are not roots rock, country or Southern rock. The members are graduates of the jazz program at the University of North Texas, which for decades has had a strong jazz program, and has yielded a number of notable jazz musicians. But Midlake plays an interesting folk rock blend with prominent vocal harmonies, that also can be reminiscent of art rock groups like Genesis.

Midlake has its start in 1999 where the members were jazz students at the University of North Texas at Denton, where the group is still based. They began playing funk-based music, influenced by Herbie Hancock, but gradually moved more toward independent rock, and then their sax player at the time, Tim Smith, quit playing the horn in the band and started drawing on the influence of groups like Jethro Tull and Radiohead. So the band’s sound evolved into the what many call folk-rock, with changes in personnel also pushing the band’s sound in different directions. One of the notable features of the group’s sound are vocal harmonies, with lead vocalist Eric Pulido singing almost every line on the album either by double tracking or with backing vocals from band members, Jesse Chandler, who is quite the multi-instrumentalist, and drummer McKenzie Smith. Singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham also makes a guest appearance on vocals. The instrumentation often runs to the mellow side with acoustic guitars and a kind of spacey sonic atmosphere.

Opening is a piece called Days Gone By which sums up the sound of the album, with the vocal harmonies and the airy sound, along with contemplative lyrics. <<>>

The title track A Bridge To Far is more electric with a bit of country twang in the form of what sounds like steel guitar, though the vocals can conjure the mellow groups from the 1960s, like the Association. <<>>

A composition called The Ghouls with its evocative lyrics, combines a more melancholy mood with a stronger, more rock-oriented arrangement. <<>>

Madison Cunningham makes her appearance on a piece called The Guardians, one of the highlights of the album, with its 6/8 rhythm evoking a jig. <<>>

The Calling is the most electric track on the album. It has a kind of ominous sound in both music and lyrics, though I don’t think it’s the strongest musically. <<>>

The Lion’s Den with its vocal harmonies again evokes some of the folk rock of of past generations but with Midlake’s semi-acoustic backing. Multi-instrumentalist Jesse Chandler brings in some interesting colors with a bass clarinet. It’s another of the highlights of the album. <<>>

Also among the more interesting tracks is Make Haste, with a great example of the group’s melancholy but atmospheric sound in a more rock context. <<>>

The album end with The Valley of Roseless Thorns a shorter piece in a more mostly acoustic setting, with allegorical lyrics about the state of the world and its conflicts. <<>>