| FIELD MUSIC | Discography | Touring | Press |
Field Music (songwriting brothers Peter and David Brewis plus keyboard manipulator Andrew Moore) covered a lot of ground in 2006. The trio from Sunderland, England, have performed in Berlin, in Milan with Belle and Sebastian and Barcelona, toured France with Architecture in Helsinki and the UK with their compadres Maximo Park and
The Futureheads, the UK twice on their lonesome, including Reading and Leeds Festival appearances, and the US where they were one of the surprise hits of SXSW. They also found time to invent a dance craze (according to English tabloid newspaper The News of the World), etch one side of a 7" with a list of things you really shouldn't do
but probably have, remix Maximo Park, release a cash-in-b-sides album which gave a brief and inaccurate history of a slew of pre-Field Music experiments.
In addition the band also found time to record their second album proper.
As with their eponymous debut, Tones of Town was self-produced. Recording took place at their own Eight Music studio in Sunderland between 31st January and 16th May.
Where 'Field Music' was the sound of a group making the record they knew they were capable of; dryly-produced, ambitiously skewed, multilayered pop which gradually revealed its intricacies over repeated listens; Tones of Town sees Field Music pushing and scratching at all of the boundaries implicit in their debut; the sound of a band moving in several directions at once, searching for ways to surprise themselves, taking risks and trying something new.
That could be the cut-and-paste beatboxing which concludes 'Sit Tight', the stacked Day At The Races harmonies which lead into 'Closer At Hand', the tumble from dreaming overlapped marimba into an undiluted joyous rock guitar riff on the opener 'Give It Lose It Take It' or where the spiraling modular structures of the first record reach their logical extreme on the title track. On 'A House Is Not A Home' (Brewis, P) and first single 'In Context', Field Music could even be described as 'funky', albeit in a peculiarly singular avant-mackem way.
The album does though have a (possibly unintentional) unifying theme. Something along the lines of "There's no place like home, but how come I don't always feel 'at home', and what does that mean anyway?" Lyrically, Tones of Town, presents itself as a collection of missives from a generation who don't want to complain because they're well aware that they've never had it so good, but who nonetheless feel somewhat dislocated; geographically, socially, personally, from each other, from their jobs, from supermarkets, from indie music and from television.
TONES OF TOWN - OUT 22 JANUARY 2007 in UK - 20 Feb in US
2. Sit Tight
3. Tones of Town
4. A House is Not a home
5. Kingston
6. Working To Work
7. In Context
8. A Gap Has Appeared
9. Closer at Hand
10. Place Yourself
11. She Can Do What She Wants
SHE CAN DO WHAT SHE WANTS/SIT TIGHTER- OUT 16 APRIL 2007
2. Sit Tighter
A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME - OUT 15 JANUARY 2007
2. Logic
IN CONTEXT - OUT 9 OCTOBER 2006
2. Off & On
Watch the video to In Contexthere.
"Pretty much the entire past ten indie years is somewhere on this song-- everydude verse vocals, chorus harmonies, a bassline with no sustain whatsoever, dry interlocking guitars, neo-new wave drums, and post-rock guitar uproar. The tune has a reactive structure, with the guitars breaking out in fits of melody after every short vocal phrase; both the verses and chorus are constructed on a set of short lines followed by gaps for instrumental action. The best vocal/instrumental couplet comes in the second verse, when instead of the usual fast, cascading guitar line after Andrew Moore [actually David Brewis, ed] sings "I was expecting a change," we get this slow, repeating violin phrase supported by chiming guitar. It's an intriguing blend of pop and post-rock dynamics, and if Field Music can keep making that blend this memorable, they may yet escape the shadow of fellow Sunderlanders the Futureheads".
**** Pitchfork
"Sunderland's Field Music have seriously upped the ante since the lightly textured pop of last year's eponymous debut. The trio cite Wire and the Beach Boys as formative influences; two seemingly incongruous touchstones that explain the strong impression here of an indie group flaunting their individuality in a pop setting. 'In Context' is an ambitious three-minute taster for their second album and heralds a ballsier, funkier sound. It has a kaleidoscopic, shifting quality. There are torrents of swooning vocals from the Brewis brothers and a glorious chorus sandwiched between zippy strings and a driving bass solo that steers it to an uplifting finish".
Observer Music Monthly Track of the Month
WRITE YOUR OWN HISTORY - OUT 1 MAY 2006
2003 In the Kitchen
2003 Trying to Sit Out
2003 Breakfast Song
2003 Feeding the Birds
2002 I'm tired
2002 Test Your Reaction
2002 Alernating Current
2000 Can you See Anything
This is a collection of b sides and rarities from Field Music - it in effect tells the story of the Brewis' brothers previous bands Electronic Eye Machine and The New Tellers. The full tale is told on the cover. Check out I'm Tired and You're Not Supposed To here!!!////
YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO - OUT 10 APRIL 2006
A. Etching
B. You're Not Supposed To
CD Single
1. You're Not Supposed To (Original Mix)
2. You're Not Supposed To (Matinee Orchestra Remix)
3. You're Not Supposed To (Video
Check out the quicktime video here.
FIELD MUSIC - US VERSION OF DEBUT ALBUM, OUT 4 APRIL 2006
1. If only the moon were up
2. Tell Me Keep Me
3. Pieces
4. Luck is a Fine Thing
5. Shorter Shorter.
6. It's not the only way to feel happy
7. 17
8. Like When you Meet Someone Else
9. You Can Decide
10. Got to Get the Nerve
11. Got to Write a Letter
12. You're so Pretty
13. You're Not Suppposed To (Bonus)
14. Trying To Sit Out (Bonus)
15. I'm Tired (Bonus)
16. You're Not Supposed To (Video)
IF ONLY THE MOON WERE UP, OUT 21 NOVEMBER 2005
Check I'm Tired Here
Check the video here:
Low fat quicktime
low real player
Preorder it from Amazon Here
FIELD MUSIC - DEBUT ALBUM, OUT 8 AUGUST 2005
1. If only the moon were up
2. Tell Me Keep Me
3. Pieces
4. Luck is a Fine Thing
5. Shorter Shorter.
6. It's not the only way to feel happy
7. 17
8. Like When you Meet Someone Else
9. You Can Decide
10. Got to Get the Nerve
11. Got to Write a Letter
12. You're so Pretty
You Can Decide - released 11 July 2005 on CD and digital single
1. You Can Decide
2. In the Kitchen
3. Feeding the Birds
BUY YOU CAN DECIDE FROM ITUNES
SHORTER SHORTER - released 11 April 2005 on 7"
A. Shorter Shorter
B1. Trying to Sit Out
B2. Breakfast Song
BUY SHORTER SHORTER FROM ITUNES
PRESS
TONES OF TOWN
"In a world moving too fast, Field Music have created music so lovely and layered it makes time stop" **** Q magazine Recommends
"A glorious band, supple as a jazz trio, punctual as a chamber troupe" **** Uncut
"At the end of the album you're almost compelled to jump off the sofa and applaud" **** Mojo
"Boogles the mind - a timeless masterpiece" 4.5 Playlouder
FIELD MUSIC ALBUM
"Perfect crystalline pop - this is a melodic gem" Time Out
"Field Music's Debut is a genius, folk-psychedelic shangbang" 8/10 NME
"Lustrous romance and loquacious imagination, an intriguing debut" **** Mojo
"Like Wire arranged by the Beach Boys. Lovely" **** Uncut
"They've perfected the pop gem" **** The Times
"The most charming act to emerge this year" The Observer
"Bite sized chucks of melodic perfection. Utterly brilliant" Music Week
"It sounds like Brian Wilson has wipped out the factor 35 and slapped it on The Beatles back" **** The Fly
"An excellent debut" The Telegrpah
"Steeped in lush melodies and harmony, their songs are full of rare twists and turns" **** DJ
"An encylopedia of pop music" Album Of The Week Metro
"Their debut brims with crystalline keyboard,heaven sent harmonies and beautiful tunes" **** Independent
"one of 2005's unherelded classsics" 4/5 Uncut
"the most artfully poised guitar pop of 2005" 4/5 The Times
"slippery lyrical ambivalence and knotty orchestral pop that's at once both damaged and gorgeous" 9/10 Spin
"excellent nod to XTC's mod-pop played with frenetic energy for the ADD generation" 8/10 Entertainment Weekly
"Field Music is a joyful piece of pop art, and a case study in how fragments can make mosaics". 9/10 The Onion AV Club
WRITE YOUR OWN HISTORY
Uncut: "an almost baroque sense of minimalism and harmony as though the Neptunes had become indie pop producers" ****
The Sun: "Divine Melodies, dreamy vocals and gentle sunshine pop treats that dig deep into your soul" ****
The Times: "field music were responsible for some of the most artfully poised guitar pop of 2005....this is accomplished stuff" ****
Independent on Sunday: "Field Music released one of the greatest albums of 2005" ****
Guardian: "dreamy vocals lush melodies and infinite possibilities" ***
NME: "immaculate pop" 7/10
Music Week: "the highlights of SXSW reveal their experimental side"
Mojo: "the standard of the songs is consistant....there's a devotion to the plush lustrous tones of The Zombies and Holland-era Beach Boys"
News of the World: "Maverick pop geniuses Field Music are set to start an indie dance craze...."
TOURING
26 Jan 2007 - Tapestry Club at St Aloysius Church, Euston London
01 Feb 2007 - Garage, Oslo
02 Feb 2007 - Debaser, Medis Stockholm
03 Feb 2007 - Rust, Copenhagen
18 Feb 2007 - Paradiso, Amsterdam
19 Feb 2007 - Molotov, Hamburg
20 Feb 2007 - Mudd Club, Berlin
23 Feb 2007 - ICA, London BUY
25 Feb 2007 - Whelan's, Dublin
26 Feb 2007 - Cockpit, Leeds BUY
27 Feb 2007 - Glee Club, Birmingham
28 Feb 2007 - The Admiral Bar, Glasgow