The latest single from Midlake is a gorgeous, hymn-like meditation that begins like musical magic and only gets more magical as the song progresses. ‘Days Gone By’ feels like a deep sense of remembering, a simple longing, while also opening oneself to the new and the possible. The accompanying video shimmers with just as much joy as the music. As the sun rises over New York’s Lower East Side, Ted Lasso actor James Lance moves from quiet reflection at the beginning to dancing through the streets with glorious abandon, clearly having the time of his life. That shift reflects the changing of the seasons, the bittersweet ending of summer, and our ever-changing lives, all set against the natural constants of the sun, the Moon and the sky.
After wearing a Midlake t-shirt on Ted Lasso, Midlake fan Lance has become a friend of the band, and his performance is delightfully uplifting. Lance shares: “I saw Midlake play London’s Roundhouse in 2023. The communion between the band and the crowd was divine. The way Eric Pulido tenderly sang ‘Noble’, their ode to McKenzie Smith’s boy, tipped me over the edge. It was love. I thought, Trent Crimm, the character I play in Ted Lasso, would be a Midlake fan, so I bought a merch T-shirt for Trent to sport somewhere on the show. A little shout out… If you know Midlake, then you know, and Trent Crimm knows. A ripple of joy for Midlake fans and a friendship with McKenzie Smith began through voice notes on fatherhood, music, and everything else. One day, Midlake’s manager, Zach Hundley, kindly invited me to a Willie Nelson concert, where I met Taylor McFadden, our talented director of this video, and I found myself welcomed into this community of sweethearts. I remember thinking I’ve met my people. This all happened because of the love I felt swirling around The Roundhouse for a magical boy called Noble. This video is an invocation…a remembering to dance with the sun, and the moon and the skies.” Beautifully put.
Director of the sun-drenched video, Taylor McFadden, says: “For ‘Days Gone By’ we wanted to capture the feeling of making a choice to leave one life behind and opening yourself up to new possibilities. The choreography pays homage to classics like Gene Kelly’s famous Singing in the Rain scene, a man so in love that he can’t help but dance through the streets of the city. We chose to film at a unique cross street in New York’s Lower East Side, a location that could complement the choreography while also acting as a metaphor for being at a crossroads in life. We chose to shoot on an iPhone to create a feeling of intimacy, capturing each movement up close and personal. We choreographed the camera and the dance to work in tandem with each other. Filming in one take allows the entire experience to be fully expressed without interruption. Due to the location and complexity of the choreography, we knew we had to work with natural light timed to the exact moment of the morning golden hour…the sun then became another character in our scene that we could work and play with in line with his movements. This piece is about self-expression and allowing yourself to bare it all, even in the most public of settings…that moving through the difficult moments can often lead us to a surprising new state of love and joy.”
This is from Midlake’s sixth album, “A Bridge To Far”, due out on 7th November 2025. It’s a collection of songs infused with the idea of hope as a necessary part of what it means to be human. The band’s frontman, Eric Pulido, says, “Hope is a need. To look beyond, above what is. We can all relate on many varying levels.” Indeed, we can relate, and we’re all after a little hope right now.
