It's inescapable. If you've lived in this world any time after 1970, you've fallen subject to the pandemic. You've been tangled in the web of the Fab Four. It's nothing to be ashamed of; everyone has been influenced by them, musicians and tone deaf alike.
With this in mind, it should be no surprise that Field Music, an art-pop band from the UK, sounds rather Beatle-esque on its new album, Tones of Town. But what is very surprising is that the band somehow takes that influence and bends it in such a way that the band crafts a mix of progressive rock and jangle-pop. And Field Music does it very well.
The Beatles influence rears its gorgeous head most notably on "A House Is Not a Home," on which the band employs a bouncy bass line in the vein of Paul McCartney, a lead guitar tone reminiscent of George Harrison, and a string section that sounds like something George Martin produced.
But the band takes those influences and makes them its own. It's one thing to copycat an influence, but it's wholly different to blend a number of influences into something completely new. By taking the bouncy experimentalism of the Beatles, the twee melodic vocals of Belle & Sebastian, the progressive instrumentation of Yes, and the jangly chamber pop harmonies of The Shins, Field Music creates a style all its own.
That quality of the album invokes a sense of familiarity with each song, even if you've never heard the songs before. They're instantly evocative without being unoriginal.
Each song has a factor of unpredictability to it. The album opener, "Give It Lose It Take It," for example, features a consistent drum beat and piano line, but over top of the percussion is a revolving door of seamless instrumentation. The winding bass lines and angular lead guitars never fail to be crisp and engaging.
Field Music has the uncanny ability to write a succession of great throwaway pop songs. The album could easily go by in the blink of an eye, but there's a lot more here than first meets the ear.
If there's a criticism to be made, it's that the songs rarely give the listener a break from the saccharine happy-fantasy-world aesthetic. What originally seems like an understated pop sound feels overstated by the end of the album.But on the other hand, Field Music never stretches a song too thin. The album is so short that it breezes by before it gets old.
Listening to Tones of Town is a bit like watching a Law & Order marathon. At the end, you might be burned out on the show, but you'd be damned if you said anything bad about it. Grade: B+
-- Reviewed by Kevin A. Doran
