Midlake may hail from Texas, but the band have always ventured far beyond the Lone Star State’s Americana tradition for inspiration. Beginning their journey in 1999 while their members were studying jazz at the University of North Texas, the group passed through psychedelia, indie rock, folk music and even soft rock. If Midlake’s second record, 2006’s The Trials of Van Occupanther, visits Laurel Canyon, then the 2010 follow-up, The Courage of Others, heads for the English countryside. The men of Midlake take their plaintive harmonies and restrained songcraft to wherever they pitch camp. Their music is bathed in longing—a quality that runs deeper than any one member. When guitarist Eric Pulido stepped into the void left by singer-songwriter Tim Smith’s departure in 2012, Midlake returned with an album, 2013’s Antiphon, that sounds downright cosmic in scale yet maintains that same hushed yearning.