Midlake | The Trials Of Van Occupanther - Gold Vinyl

True story (makes a change - ed): I generally don't remember my dreams anymore. I put this down to my obsolete virus-riddled operating hardware. When I seize up completely The Wife will just throw me in a skip and get a newer model.

Anyway, this morning I had a dream I can remember. In fact, when The Wife brought up my mug of tea apparently I blurted out, "I done had a beautiful dream!" Which of course, was a true thing.

Hadwad's 11195th Dream: In my dream I was working in a record shop in Montana (I recognize the sky). It must have been Autumn in my dream, because the air was crisp but the sun was strong and warm. And it smelt like Autumn. A group of women came into the shop and invited me and The Wife to the local shindig later that evening. My dream then jumped - as they do - to me and The Wife making our way through the neon lit downtown streets to the bar, a modest sized nineteenth century building which stood in a massive corn field. Bunting was strung along the white picket fence and colourful paper lanterns lit up the porch and deck that surrounded the building. We could hear a band tuning up inside so we rushed in, where we were enthusiastically greeted by the locals - men and women dressed gold rush-era who I knew but didn't - and the group of ladies I had met earlier. All of the ladies wore their hair and clothes as if it was the 1940s, and the band warming up was Wilco. Jeff Tweedy noticed me at the bar and waved 'allo'. Tweedy had a beard and was tuning a banjo and spinning it like ZZ Top spin their guitars in Back To The Future.

In my dream I felt the most amazing sense of warmth and contentedness and a familial connection to everyone in that bar, and by extension the town and the shop beyond the front door. It was a spiritual warmth, which is exactly what I feel whenever I hear The Trials Of Van Occupanther, a record soaked in earthy imagery and the ceaseless shifting of the seasons. I'm glad I've got 'Occupanther to listen to whenever I need to recapture that feeling; dreams are fleeting and can end abruptly, as mine did this morning; jolted back to reality by a mug of tea and my dog's dick on my forehead by way of a friendly greeting. - LFD, 1st October 2020