Cards on the table, if asked to select a continual favourite band over the past two decades, I would plump for Field Music. Their capacity to evolve, taking on different influences whilst retaining recognisable elements and consistently high-quality control is second-to-none. This was demonstrated to perfection on this year’s limited edition Record Store Day release, ‘Binding Time’, which managed to make their collaboration with the NASUWT Riverside brass band on a series of reflections on mining and industrial relations sound the most natural and seamless combination. For their latest album, ‘Limits of Language’, the explorations that led to solo records released by both Brewis brothers during 2023 leave their stamp, although the synthesiser driven experiments of Peter’s ‘Blowdry Colossus’ make a firmer sonic mark, the Yamaha DX7 and the Roland Juno-60 being especially prominent.
However, the record begins with one of David’s compositions, ‘Six Weeks Nine Wells’ which mingles the ecstasy of school summer holidays with the anxiety of a child peeking at the adult world. Thematically, it picks up from where he left off on the penultimate number, ‘The Last Day’, on his solo album, ‘The Soft Struggles’ yet to a different musical palette, synthesised squiggles prominent and crescendos reminiscent of Gabriel-era Genesis. The production has a vast 80s sheen and clarity to it, a quality that applies to the entire album.
‘The Guardian of Sleep’ with its allusions to Charles Laughton’s ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ has funky bass lines, synth flourishes, sax squawks and the brothers’ harmonies. While they don’t have voices of extraordinary range or power, there is a distinctive, recognizable quality they bring to all their records. The almost title track (with a definite article added to it) is another tune that bursts into life with an explosive synth introduction and is propelled by their great rhythmic facility, a song about how the failings of language can be alleviated by physical touch. ‘Sounds About Right’ starts with hints that it could turn into a soft rock ballad before developing its midtempo melodic flow, while the lyrics warn and act as a shield against despondency.
‘Absolutely Negative’ could be a meeting of Yellow Magic Orchestration and Prince. It has a euphoric surge to it that contrasts with the title while ‘Curfew in the Square’ manages to cram “chaos in the frozen isles”, elements of jazz, odd synth squirts and Genesis into its two minutes. One of Field Music’s remarkable qualities is to successfully incorporate influences that I would have dismissed such as Genesis and cause me to reevaluate their music. ‘Turn the Hours Away’ is a restrained piece with snippets of reflections on a fairground carousel with Bananarama’s ‘Venus’ playing before switching its focus to a suburban living room. There is an element of Steely Dan to its relaxed pace and jazzy, slightly odd time-sequences.
‘The Waitress of St Louis’ has an opening few seconds suggestive of a piano ballad before launching into an infectious funk piece with outrageous percussive flourishes. The song is an ode to ‘Louis’, a now-closed café that featured on the cover of their 2007 album, ‘Tones of Town’. There is a sense of nuance and admission of fault that is rare in popular music on David’s ‘I Might Have Been Wrong’, the line “my best was not enough” leaping out. Closing track, ‘Between the Bridges’ is an imagistic ending, its final piano offering a gentle echo of its crazed synth patterns.
Despite lacking anything as instantly hook-ladened as ‘Disappointed’ or ‘Count It Up’, over its eleven tracks ‘Limits of Language’ is flawless, each song working as a whole and having so many thrilling and startling individual details. It is also the best produced album I have heard for a long time. While that is not a feature I would normally be impressed by, the way each sound leaps out of the mix and sounds huge is just so immense. After 20 years, Field Music still sound fresh, ploughing their own furrow and incorporating new inspirations into their recognisable sound.
Field Music: Limits of Language – Out 11th October 2024 (Memphis Industries)
Weeks, Nine Wells (youtube.com)
I was editor of the long-running fanzine, Plane Truth, and have subsequently written for a number of publications. While the zine was known for championing the most angular independent sounds, performing in recent years with a community samba percussion band helped to broaden my tastes so that in 2021 I am far more likely to be celebrating an eclectic mix of sounds and enthusing about Made Kuti, Anthony Joseph, Little Simz and the Soul Jazz Cuban compilations as well as Pom Poko and Richard Dawson.
