Measure
Field Music
Score:78
Reviewer: Ed Butler
Label: Memphis Industries (UK & USA), Spunk (Australia)
Reviewed: Feb 24th '10, Released:2010
If ever there was a band that appeared less likely to record a double-album than Field Music, it would come as a shock to most. Two albums of percussive pop, playing a subversive twist on the traditional meaning of the word via terrific rhythm and regular melodic earworms, suggested a rapidly maturing sound. Not for the Brewis brothers, David and Peter, the concept-album gimmickry that tends to be associated with 70 minute-plus recordings. Not for them the big artistic and thematic leaps of their ‘artier’ brethren. Seeing as the intervening two years since the gorgeous Tones of Town saw both brothers release solo projects (each with the other’s help – David’s School of Language and Peter’s The Week That Was), it seemed doubtful that there would be sufficient material, at the very least.
Yet, here stands Measure, a testament to the ambition of a band that also defines the Brewis' unassuming, overachieving, we-just-love-making-music personality. At 20 songs (21 if the hidden track counts) and over 71 minutes, it would appear confronting were it not for the continued excellent grasp of songwriting the band established earlier in their career. Time and again, tracks like ‘Them That Do Nothing’, ‘All You’d Ever Need to Say’ and the title number are attention grabbing in the most polite, English way possible. Not to mention the truly awesome divergence into 80s synth experimentalism (plus bonus marimba!) on ‘Let’s Write a Book’. Yes, such a monster album does occasionally suffer from the bloat of all double-albums before it, but frequently it doesn’t matter. The band’s compositional strength consistently shines through, and the ebb and flow between pop gems, sweeping emotional studies and dark moments studded with the band’s trademark crisp drum patterns ensures that Measure is varied enough to maintain attention.
Field Music have always borne an affinity for everyday activities carrying weight beyond their seemingly mundane act. From ‘Got to Get the Nerve’ and ‘Got to Write a Letter’ on their self titled debut, to ‘Working to Work’ on ToT, to ‘Let’s Write a Book’ today, the love of the banal is cloaked in a genuinely novel musical outlook. On Measure, that outlook broadens further, exploring new niches, and new depths of melodic melancholy. But one disc might have been enough.
