The Middle East

The Middle East are a musical collective from Townsville, Australia, formed in 2005. Their music draws on post-rock, folk and ambient influences, and members of the group also play, or have played, in other North Queensland acts including Joseph Liddy and the Skeleton Horse, The Forest and We Are Buildings.

After several East Coast tours, the group releases a split EP in 2006 with the Cairns band Sleeping in Trains. Their debut album, The Recordings of the Middle East, follows in 2008. Shortly afterwards, the band announces its first split, then reconvenes eight months later.

In 2009, The Recordings of the Middle East is issued in the United States as an abridged EP under the same title. The song “Blood” appears in the films Accidents Happen, It’s Kind of a Funny Story and Crazy, Stupid, Love, as well as in an episode of the Australian television series Offspring and in an advertisement for BNP Paribas.

At the start of their appearance at Splendour in the Grass in 2011, the band says that the set is its final show.