Thanks in part to their association with bands like the Futureheads and Maximo Park, Field Music has been lumped in with the legions of new wave-influenced British bands that just keep on crashing on our shores and provoking an increasingly tedious sense of déjà vu — and despite occasional feeble stabs at backlash, that scene remains so hot that the connection has no doubt helped their career. So I was somewhat surprised to pop in their CD and find that “angular” is not the first adjective I want to reach for; that the Gang of Four is not the first influence that pops to mind; that they have little in common with the arch swagger of Franz Ferdinand, the manic pogo-ing of the Kaiser Chiefs, the dark and jittery cool of Editors; that they make sweet, pretty music, filled with sugary harmony vocals, more power pop than new wave. Also available for free download is “You Can Decide.”
— T.B.
