Review: Duncan McKimm

Following the brilliance of Tones of Town, it appeared Field Music were entering a possibly terminal hiatus due to the Brewis brothers’ aversion to touring and their seemingly disparate musical desires. However, a couple of excellent solo projects in the form of School of Language (David’s baby) and The Week That Was (Peter’s) appear to have not only brought the focus back to Field Music, but also added some excitement to the flagship band. Maybe the critical success of the two side-projects and the removal of tour pressure during this time (which the brothers hate) reinvigorated the old girl – but whatever it was, she’s sounding fantastic.

Typical of the Field Music sound, Measure is intricate and crisp – with all the wonderfully disjointed licks and riffs pulling together like some sort of musical jalopy that hums along at pace. Unlike Tones of Town however, Measure seems to have a harder edge to it. The gleamy pop of ToT has been given more grit, more funk and, strangely for the almost painfully shy and retiring Brewis brothers, a bunch more swagger. Clocking in with 20 tracks (released as a double album in the UK, it’s been crammed on one disc in Oz), Measure is surprisingly coherent and concise – with none of the sprawling breakdowns and extended jams usually found on releases of this length. If anything, the extra breathing space on the album has been used excellently to create more room to grow the ideas of each track. Using their brick-by-brick approach, carefully adding each layer and aspect of the track until it appears in its finished form as something completely different to the start, the Brewis brothers are at their masterful best on Measure.

While they live and work in Sunderland, there is something decidedly Liverpudlian about much of the album, particularly around the middle. Tracks like ‘The Rest Is Noise’ have a distinctly Lennon/McCartney flavour about them – not inferring it’s derivative, but implying the attention to structure and melody the Brewis’ show here is something the fab four would be proud of. ‘Effortlessly’, which opens the second quarter of the album, is a perfect illustration of the new, looser and straight-ahead attitude to many of the songs – using the extra space afforded on the mega-album to let the groove breathe and the track unfold in its own time. The opener ‘In The Mirror’ is another great example of the more open feel – a feel that was hinted at with tracks like ‘In Context’ from Tones of Town but largely restricted by the tightness of the album.

Like anything related to these two men, you’ll need to give it four to five spins before you can really get your head around it – but there is a majesty to this recording that will carry through and hopefully drive some success their way. With any luck they may attempt a tour of this more straightforward and accessible album. Here’s hoping.

Field Music – Measure.
Label: Memphis Industries.