Jumping back to the '70s

Tell Midlake's Tim Smith that songs from his quintet's second album, "The Trials of Van Occupanther, " conjure images of those soft-focus, couples-embracing-on-the-beach K-Tel ads or the sun-dappled earth tones of early '70s movies like "Play Misty for Me" and you'll have one happy musician on your hands.

"That would be cool if people would hear our music and think of that. My goal is complete then, because that's awesome. Those movies of that time are just amazing," says Smith on the phone from Denton , the small Texas town his band calls home.

The Midlake singer and songwriter is equally enamored of the music of that era and feels no shame name-checking acts like Fleetwood Mac and America as "huge" influences.

"I think it might be something about that time period is very romantic to me. Maybe it wasn't so romantic, I don't know, I was born in '75," he says. "I don't remember it, but just looking at photographs of your parents during that time, and films of that time, it just seems like a certain feeling. It seems more honest. Just thinking about the '70s seems very beautiful to me."

While the soft-rocking, irony-free vibes of Laurel Canyon certainly inform the meditative "Van Occupanther," Smith reaches even further back for lyrical inspiration. Characters in Midlake songs such as "Young Bride," "Roscoe," and "Bandits" exist in an earlier, more bucolic, yet hard-bitten time reflected in the precise combinations of acoustic guitars, ethereal flute, tasteful horns and keyboards, and pastoral harmonies.

Midlake began life as, of all things, a jazz funk band -- its members met at the North Texas School of Music and slowly shifted to their current sound through a shared love of Radiohead and Bjork. The occasional flute is just one hint that it's not your average indie rock band.

"I'm more influenced by great pieces of art, the Renaissance, and classical music," says Smith, who will be joined at the Middle East tomorrow night by drummer McKenzie Smith, bassist Paul Alexander, keyboardist Eric Nichelson, and guitarist Eric Pulido . "I was always around flutes, and so to me it isn't weird. . . . I love the way the flute sounds; it's a very meaningful instrument to me. 'Oh, it's not rock 'n' roll!' -- well, I don't care about rock 'n' roll necessarily, I'm just going to do whatever feels right to me."

Sincerity is not usually a trait rewarded in the arch indie world of cooler-than-thou Web-flaming and narcissistic self-deprecation. And influences like the Eagles and Chicago are rarely applauded in an arena where an artist's coolness is often determined by the obscurity of his record collection.

Yet Midlake is quietly becoming a favorite in hipster and critical circles.

"Van Occupanther" was a mainstay on year-end top 10 lists, and at least one famous fan believes it's the band's deliberate ignorance of the au courant that is making the difference.

"His tastes are not tongue - in - cheek. He genuinely likes Christopher Cross, he genuinely likes America," says actor and former pro skateboarder Jason Lee of Smith. "And I think it's genius that it's totally sincere and honest. I think that kind of sincerity and that kind of childlike approach are why he was able to write 'Van Occupanther ,' which I think is so mindblowingly ahead of the curve."

The man who plays karma-reformed petty thief Earl Hickey on NBC's "My Name Is Earl" became an instant fan after hearing the group's trippier 2004 debut, "Bamnan and Slivercork." He directed a video for Midlake's single "Balloonmaker."

"What's cool for one is totally uncool for another, and what makes Midlake such a cool band is that they just don't give a toss about that kind of thing at all," says Simon Raymonde , former Cocteau Twins bassist-producer and head of Bella Union records, who signed Midlake on the strength of the "Bamnan" demos. "I think that makes them quite unique because they don't follow at all."

Raymonde enjoyed the band's more futuristic sound but was floored by the transition to a more vintage sound on "Van Occupanther."

"I think the new album has a universal feeling. That [sense that] 'God, everything's moving so fast, technology is speeding ahead, we're living in this absolutely crazy world.' And there's some aspects of old-time living, of the past, of gathering and hunting and nurturing that -- whilst on one hand can sound a bit hippie-ish -- you can look at and say I do hanker back to a time like that," he says.

Bella Union is based in London, and Raymonde first put Midlake to work in Europe, where they were the toast of the press and the summer festival circuit.

"Fingers crossed it will be a similar kind of response" in the United States, Raymonde says. "If we have another conversation in a year's time and the band has sold 100,000 records, then I'll be absolutely delighted. A million is what they deserve, but I'll take 100,000 for now."

Smith admits some trepidation about what is the band's first proper US tour (though they've played Boston before). "I don't expect a whole lot of people to show up, but that's OK," he says: He just hopes he and his bandmates can deliver to whoever does.

"I haven't been to too many rock shows in my life, but I know that the feeling of just being in the same vicinity as a person that you love to listen to, like a Radiohead concert, just to know that they're not too far away is just a crazy feeling," says Smith. "I don't know if we have to do back flips or dance around onstage or anything for people to love our music, but that would just be quite dishonest for how our music sounds."

Christopher Cross never did anything acrobatic, so Midlake should be OK. Lee, for one, thinks so.

"I would rather see a group of humble, small-town Texas guys who really believe in what they're doing be more in the limelight than these other sort of retro, rip-off bands" such as Jet, says Lee. "It's a little difficult understanding why [Midlake] isn't quite where it should be [in terms of commercial success]. But at the same time, they've got their place and they are growing. The people that do appreciate them really appreciate them for the right reasons. It's about the music."