The Middle East at MHOW (05/17/10)

Photo: Jon Klemm

Since releasing the brilliant Recordings of The Middle East EP, The Middle East have managed to keep a pretty low profile, (so low in fact, that I wondered if the band might have broken up.) Appearances may be deceiving however because it turns out that The Middle East are still very much together and they just finished recording a new album in their native Australia. The full length debut LP by The Middle East is called I Want That You Are Always Happy and it will be released in the US on Jul 12, 2011 via Missing Piece Records. Here’s a little more info via the press release:

The self-produced I Want That You Are Always Happy more than delivers on the promise of its predecessor. The songs cover a wide swath of emotional terrain, from the joyful (“Jesus Came to My Birthday Party,” “Land of the Bloody Unknown”) to the elegiac (“Black Death 1349” and “Mount Morgan”) and everything in between.

Jones, a notorious perfectionist, takes a characteristically humble view of the album: “I don’t know whether people will like it. Obviously, I hope they do and I hope they can get what they want from it. For us, I see it as an amiable first attempt and I know we can do better. In fact, I would like to try again someday.”

No US tour dates have been announced as of yet, but they will be making their way around Australia in June. More “lost” pictures of The Middle East from when they opened for Mumford and Sons at MHOW in May 2010 after the jump.