MIDLAND-THE LAST RESORT REVIEW: A PLEASANT LISTENING .

 Midland dropped 'The Last Resort' a few weeks ago. It's the second project from the band this year: In March, they released The Sonic Ranch, an album made of their old and unreleased songs. 

Now, The Last Resort is the first collection of new songs since their second album, Let it Roll in 2019. Despite the EP only includes five tracks, it's a pleasant listening. 

The sound contains some rock and electric guitars that melt with Midland's classic country sound. The result is delicious. 

The first piece is the post-break-up And Then Some, with mellow sadness. This start is much closer to their origins on The Sonic Ranch. There is a bittersweet feeling in every song (except from Two To Two Step, that will get you dancing), which is far from the debauchery and living to the max of the 21st Century Honky Tonk American Band... That's also shown in the first single and second track, Sunrise tells the story. It brings back cheating to the narrative, but it's poetically told by adding the Sun and the Moon as witnesses to the affaire. The account talks cheating like a crime, which ends up in clever lines as 'There's a half cigarette swimming in red wine//The record still spinning the scene of the crime'. 

Take Her Off Your Hands and Adios Cowboy close the EP with delightful harmonies and that soft touch. The first one unveils some disenchantment. Despite Mark sings like he's the one watching the scene ,Mark also transmits suffer in his vocals during his portrait of the man that undervalues his girlfriend. The second one , Adios Cowboy, details a heartbreaking one-sided-goodbye. 

The Last Resort shows a bright new step for the band, with a notable improvement on the songwriting, specially in the lyrics.The songs are more reflexive and mature, able to transmit all the feelings and sides portrayed on every piece, making them more authentic... It feels like some of The Sonic Ranch has remained in this small collection.