the brains behind the week that was happens to be peter ‘field music’ brewis, having fulfilled their urges to make clever pop across 2 albums proper, and one b-sides collection, the brewis brothers disbanded their critically loved field music and went their separate ways.
well, actually no they didn’t.
you see earlier this year, brother david released an album earlier under the moniker school of language with the legend "a field music production" writ large and proud, and a quick look over the artwork on this reveals the same, proving that these northern lads still very much believe that their collaborations are worthy of remembrance.
if you ever heard anything by field music then you will know what to expect : rich pop music with intricate but simple sonic detail, songs that change tempo mid flow, and sweet dulcet tones giving depth to the concept heavy wordplay.
you see behind these 3 minute pop concertos full of 80s big expansive fairlight cmi (ask your dad) homage is a back story, in which during some darker moments in 2007, david became fascinated as to the increasing role of mass media in our lives, and the impact the intrusion has upon heart breaking news stories.
from this idea came the flow of creative excess that has lead to this excellent album.
so alongside peter’s love of pounding piano chords, the music is fleshed out with copious strings, guitars, glockenspiels, layered vocals, giving serious reviewers an unexpected throwback to the times when people like kate bush and peter gabriel used studio based technology to its maximum potential, even the drum production on album closer, and recent single, scratch the surface, brought me out in genesis hatred cold sweats.
thankfully, all these concepts and ideas have not taken away the fact that embedded within the albums 32 minutes are several genuinely wonderful pop songs.
the strings-n-slap happy bassline breakdown during which some girls sing serenely that ‘there’s no-one to take you home’ (come home) could easily instigate tearful overload to many a bedsitter land resident, the aforementioned big drums, and the presence of xtc styled melodies, means that this albums just gets better with each listen.
highly recommended.
more detail : here