Midlake A Bridge to Far
Midlake's A Bridge to Far opens like a long, intimate conversation that balances pastoral restraint with an urgent pulse, and across professional reviews critics largely agree it succeeds. The consensus score of 82.33/100 from six reviews frames the record as a confident, late-career high point where songs such as “Days Gone By”, “A Bridge To Far” and “Guardians” emerge as clear highlights. Reviewers consistently single out “Days Gone By” for its flute-led radiance and trance-like lift, while the title track channels wounded hope into communal strength; “The Ghouls” and “The Calling” provide the album's driving tension and darker edges, rounding out what many critics call the best songs on the album.
Across the reviews, themes of renewal, time, and the natural world recur alongside vintage textures and atmospheric psychedelia. Critics praise Midlake's harmonies and improvised touches, noting moments of stoicism and yearning that make the record feel both timeless and immediate. Some writers emphasize the album's restorative warmth and pastoral hush, others the celestial textures and low-spoken call-and-response in tracks like “Guardians”. While sentiment is largely positive, reviewers also point to a careful restraint - the band favors subtlety over spectacle - which makes the more urgent cuts stand out.
Taken together, the professional reviews form a clear critical consensus: A Bridge to Far is a thoughtfully composed collection that rewards repeat listens, with standout tracks that capture its blend of nostalgia, perseverance and quiet optimism. For readers wondering whether A Bridge to Far is worth hearing, the record's consistent praise across six reviews and its 82.33 consensus score suggest it is among Midlake's most compelling recent work.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Days Gone By
6 mentions
"the sparer, acoustic-leaning tracks "Days Gone By," with its late-'60s-evoking harmonies"— AllMusic
The Ghouls
5 mentions
"Another spooky entry, "The Ghouls," is more assertive, with a driving rhythm section"— AllMusic
A Bridge To Far
6 mentions
"The same could be said of their sixth album, A Bridge to Far,"— AllMusic
the sparer, acoustic-leaning tracks "Days Gone By," with its late-'60s-evoking harmonies
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Days Gone By
A Bridge To Far
The Ghouls
Guardians
Make Haste
Eyes Full of Animal
The Calling
Lion's Den
Within/Without
The Valley of Roseless Thorns
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 6 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
Midlake have fashioned on A Bridge To Far a record where the best songs - “Days Gone By” and “A Bridge To Far” - push hope to the fore even as the world clenches. The reviewer's voice lingers on the way flutes open up “Days Gone By”, and how “A Bridge To Far” turns weary lines into communal strength, making these two the album's clearest highlights. Elsewhere, urgent tracks like “The Ghouls” and “The Calling” supply tension and drive, balancing the softer closers so the best tracks read as both immediate and timeless. This is plainly one of Midlake's finer works, songs crafted with power that demand repeated listening.
Key Points
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The best song is driven by memorable instrumentation and a sense of new pathway, as with the flutes on "Days Gone By".
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The album's core strengths are its blend of urgency and soft subtlety, and its thematic focus on hope and questioning.
Themes
Critic's Take
On Midlake’s A Bridge to Far, the review privileges the album's dreamier, more forceful moments, naming “Guardians” and “The Calling” as standout tracks. The writer emphasizes how the band leans into celestial textures and vintage gear, which makes “Guardians” notable for its low-spoken call-and-response and “The Calling” striking for its horns and feedback. The narrative also highlights the album's contemplative side on songs like “Make Haste” and “Within/Without”, underscoring Midlake's knack for improvisational edges and late-'60s harmonies.
Key Points
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The best song is "Guardians" because of its featured guest, call-and-response vocals, and striking instrumentation.
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The album's core strengths are its lush, spontaneous feel, vintage textures, and a balance between dreamy psychedelia and contemplative folk-rock.
Themes
Critic's Take
Midlake’s A Bridge To Far feels nourishing and quietly assured, the best tracks - “Days Gone By” and “The Ghouls” - doing the heaviest emotional lifting. The reviewer’s voice notes the album’s yearning flute and restorative vocal harmony, and singles out “Days Gone By” as delicate but radiant. “The Ghouls” is presented as a harder-hitting gem, its relentless piano hook and thundering rhythm section exorcising demons. Guardians and Make Haste are also praised for their mystical charm and spacey, wee-small-hours jazz atmosphere, rounding out why these are the best songs on the album.
Key Points
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The Ghouls is the best song because it combines a relentless piano hook and thundering rhythm to exorcise the album’s demons.
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The album’s core strengths are its restorative vocal harmonies, yearning flute, and a quietly assured, stoic emotional core.
Themes
Critic's Take
Midlake’s A Bridge To Far foregrounds optimism, and the best songs - especially “Days Gone By”, “A Bridge To Far” and “Within/Without” - carry that message with graceful assurance. Ryan Dillon’s prose calls out the magnetically magical opener “Days Gone By” and the title track for their harmonies, while praising the solace of “Within/Without” as a sparse, impactful ballad. The record feels like a long, intimate conversation, and these standout tracks crystallize the album’s hopeful, atmospheric charm.
Key Points
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The best song is the opener "Days Gone By" because it magnetically sets the album’s hopeful tone.
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The album’s core strength is its consistent, uplifting atmosphere delivered through harmonies, sparse balladry, and warm, inviting instrumentation.
Themes
Re
Critic's Take
Midlake sound warm and weathered on A Bridge To Far, where standouts like “Days Gone By” and “A Bridge To Far” crystallize the album's themes of time and fortitude. The reviewer's voice lingers on the pastoral hush of “Days Gone By” and the wounded-hope immediacy of the title-track, noting melodies that are both instantly affecting and quietly complex. There's a communal glow to songs such as “Guardians” and “The Ghouls”, which the writer treats as soulful proofs that Midlake retain their anti-fashion integrity. Overall, the best songs on A Bridge To Far are those that pair reflective lyricism with propulsive feeling, making clear why listeners seeking the album's best tracks should begin with the opener and the title-track.
Key Points
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The opener “Days Gone By” is best for its serene flute, comforting lyricism and immediately affecting introduction.
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The album's core strengths are its themes of time and communal fortitude, warm production, and melodies that balance reflection with propulsive urgency.
Themes
KL
Critic's Take
Midlake sound more assured than ever on A Bridge to Far, where the best songs - “Days Gone By”, “A Bridge To Far”, and “Eyes Full of Animal” - crystallize the record's hopeful meditations. The reviewer's measured admiration lingers on the title track's layered harmonies and “Days Gone By” trance-like lift, while “Eyes Full of Animal” is praised for its soaring chorus that masks inner tension. Nicknamed a return to form, the album's restraint and pastoral textures make these songs the clearest highlights and the best tracks on A Bridge to Far.
Key Points
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The best song is best because its trance-like opening, repetition, and midpoint lift make it the album's tonal and emotional centre.
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The album's core strengths are restraint, pastoral textures, and an overarching message of hope balanced with meditative repetition.