“Roscoe” by Midlake (2008)

Dad’s Song of the Day # 59, Oct. 27, 2025

Okay, okay…I get it: DSOTD has been a little ‘70s heavy recently.

Bringing things into the 21st century is not easy for me, as I’ve admittedly built something of a music blind spot for the last 20 years or so. I’m trying to rectify that…

But from the relatively little I’ve exposed myself to, my favourite genre of the new century was the indie-folk era that hit its stride in the mid-oughts and early 2010s and gave us artists like Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, Sufjan Stevens and the Decemberists.

Midlake, from Denton, Texas, was one of the artists on the vanguard of this movement, and I’m particularly drawn to them because of their prog and psychedelic tendencies. Their most successful album, “The Trials of Van Occupanther,” reminds me of 60s and 70s British acts like Fairport Convention, the Incredible String Band and even Jethro Tull.

“Roscoe” is sung by a protagonist trying to get a home built. And he yearns for a time (specifically 1891) when the work got done via a special connection with the Earth and nature. When skilled artisans—he calls them “mountaineers”—would arrive on-site, work with the materials nature gave them, and then move on to the next job.

In the singer’s mind, Roscoe is the ideal name for those reliable, efficient men who worked with their hands: physically connected to nature.

Midlake wraps the desire to return to a simpler time within a pleasant, uptempo vibe. It moves at a nice pace, featuring Midlake’s gorgeous harmonies and even a wicked little mellotron solo.

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