Midlake and Chemical Brothers: Perfect Strangers

Posted on Apr 17th 2007 6:00PM by Mike Spinella
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This week, the Chemical Brothers revealed the first single from their forthcoming 'We Are the Night' album. On past efforts, the Chems collaborated with everyone from Beth Orton to Bloc Party's Kele Okereke. This time the duo ventures into indie-folk territory, calling upon Midlake to lay down the closing track.

Midlake frontman Tim Smith told Spinner, "I actually have never spoken to them." In fact, Midlake produced the track remotely in their hometown of Denton, Texas, which is a long way from South London.

Smith wasn't intimidated by working with the pioneering electronic duo, but not for the reason you might expect. He told Spinner, "I hadn't heard them at all before this project." He did his homework before going into the studio, getting a crash course in the Chems by borrowing a bunch of albums from a friend.

Midlake is getting into the remix game themselves, commissioning party-rocker Erol Alkan to rework their song 'Roscoe.' Smith told Spinner that if the Chems were to reinterpret a Midlake track, he'd want it to be 'Young Bride,' offering, "I'd like to see what they'd do with that."