field music - s/t
i loved the bands 2 singles when they came out, so, when this album turned up i was rather keen to get to grips with more of the same. however, the first few spins were rather hard work, something i didn't expect! the band jostle and fumble with their timings to such a degree that you by track 4 you just want to scream at the obviously talented brothers to play a song straight through without changing the tempo/mood/pleasure factor. luckily however, track 5 is one of the classics, 'shorter shorter', after which the album settles down and things improve. the pronounced northern english accents, a la maximo park, once more prove to be as endearing as ever, humour and pathos set to such happy song structures is a strange double edged sword, luckily, the bands core of pete and dave brewis seem to excel at such things. so, when they continue to drop such left hand turns as the distorted bass notes into 'tell me keep me', or the hard stereo phasing of the vocals throughout you begin to revel in the unexpected and realise that the album is in for the long haul on your playlist.
admittedly, a lot of the album comes across like ben folds five with a broken metronome in a battle with the ambitious pop experiments of jellyfish ('spilt milk' era especially!) but amongst the broken structures are some deliciously gorgeous songs. especially as when they do a song straight, the results are truly superb, for example the simple beat and melody of 'its not the only way to feel happy' with vocal harmonies that send chills in all the right directions, is one thing, but then they add a subtle extra harmonica part that is the perfect icing on a very nice cake.
piano based powerpop from newcastle which takes some time to love, sometimes however, emotional investment really pays off in the long run.