Image by Mathew Jonson, from their MySpace page.
According to the bio on The Middle East's homepage, the band are "... from Townsville, and we play music."
Not that hard to figure out (perhaps not the Townsville part), but what the bio fails to mention is that The Middle East play some truly gorgeous music. Like Art of Fighting meets Belle and Sebastian, their songs have a tranquil, moody vibe, wrapped in a beautiful organic feel and full of harmonies and soft melodic vocals; a little bit of haunting pop at times, some ambient post-rock at others.
This band seem to be picking up a lot of attention of late (including many notable support slots). In fact, three separate friends with very different music tastes actually recommended that I listen to them. I think this says a lot about their music - its not commercially accessible, but it has a very universal kind of appeal, with elements that speak to everyone.
Spunk have released their ep The Recordings of the Middle East. This is the only music of theirs I have heard so far, but its a lovely collection of songs.
Check out The Middle East at their website.
