Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther

Maybe it's just a reflection of my listening habits and preferences, but I find the music on this album difficult to categorise; it sounds a bit like a lot of things, but taken all together, its sound and effect are hard to distill. What can I say? It's a pop record, warm, contemplative and sometimes melancholic, copping licks from Virgin Suicides-era am radio by way of Fleetwood Mac, Belle & Sebastian-styled folk, and Sufjan at his (not particularly rockin') most rock, but dressed up in today's threads, not least in the crystalline, organic-sounding production. It's not a concoction that ought necessarily appeal to me, but appeal it does - the songcraft is hard to deny, as are the songs.