Staff Reviews

Field Music - Field Music (Measure)

Review by Amanda Farah

At the end of 20 tracks, Field Music actually have you wanting more. »

User reviews

• 10/10 by TaisAmundssen

Buy now from:

following a self-imposed three year hiatus sunderland's field music return with a new 20 track album of artful english pop on memphis industries. powered, as ever, by brothers and co-front men peter and david brewis, field music's line up now includes kev dosdale (guitar and keys) and ian black (bass). the new album (self titled but identified as 'field music (measure)' to distinguish it from their debut album) is a gloriously rich lp that entwines the brother's renewed love of the rock music cannon with a rediscovery of some of pop's overlooked adventurers. if you listen closely, you might hear echos of and allusions to the likes of led zeppelin, bela bartok, prince, fleetwood mac, miles davis, the beatles, bowie, richard thompson, pj harvey, crazy horse, erik satie, kate bush, talk talk, lou reed, brian eno, the blue nile, pierre schaeffer, roxy music, penguin cafe orchestra, todd rundgren and discipline-era king crimson. unlike previous field music albums, characterised by their precision and conceptual and sonic coherence, this new record makes no attempt to present itself as a unified whole. themes disappear and reappear. some songs flow together, others intrude on each other. there are contradictions and ripostes. there appears to be a great deal of defiance and a fair amount of resignation. can it make sense? does it matter if there is no sense? what strands can possibly hold together the dissonant funk of 'let's write a book' (a call to arms for the perpetually apologetic), the mutated blues of 'each time is a new time' (a riposte to misplaced faith in repetition), the chopping and splashing pop driven through 'them that do nothing' (perhaps about a valiant willingness to make mistakes), the multilayered riffery of 'the rest is noise' or the epic found-sound song cycle that starts with 'see you later'?
description from www.roughtrade.com