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SGR · 09-15-2022, 03:33 PM

Field Music - Tones of Town

What’s this talk about distracting effects? I didn’t get that with this album - in fact, it sounded to me like fairly straight forward, accomplished indie-rock music. It actually reminded me a lot of Spoon. Admittedly, I’m not a big fan of Spoon, but I won’t turn them off when they pop up in a playlist. I think these songs are well-written, but for some reason, they don’t really differentiate themselves much to my ears. There’s a bit of a lack of….well….hooks, I suppose. The songs feel like sketches of an idea, rather that fully realized individual visions - in some cases, this approach can be wonderful (Pink Flag, Double Nickels on the Dime, etc.) but in this case, it doesn’t quite reach that level of wonder. In those albums, even though so many of the songs feel like sketches, many of them contain these highly unique musical phrases, breaks, and self-contained hooks. The pacing will often be interrupted briefly, bringing your attention to something specific, before resuming operation - you don’t forget it when it happens - here, it feels like a fairly well-maintained tempo of indie-rock chug, sprinkled with some “oohs”, “aahs”, and a bit of dusting of unique instrumentation (xylophone, synths, strings, piano, etc.).

I uhhhh….I like it. But I wouldn’t say I love it. It’s serviceable. Like Spoon, I wouldn’t turn it off if it popped up on my speakers. But also like Spoon, I feel that it’s missing something - it’s missing truly memorable hooks, it’s missing some kind of aggression, it’s missing a deeper feeling and emotion that marks my favorite kinds of music. Perhaps the most surprising part of the whole album to me was the vocal beatboxing at the end of “Sit Tight”. It sounds a little silly, but you know what, it sold me on it upon the second listen.

To Marie: thanks for the rec, and I’m curious, is this sound of theirs consistent through their discography or does their sound change? Are there any other albums of theirs you’d recommend to a newcomer?

6.5/10

Edit: ****, rubber soul already compared them to Spoon, here I was thinking I was being original.

09-15-2022, 03:33 PM	#508 (permalink)
SGR No Ice In My Bourbon Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: /dev/null Posts: 4,326	Field Music - Tones of Town What’s this talk about distracting effects? I didn’t get that with this album - in fact, it sounded to me like fairly straight forward, accomplished indie-rock music. It actually reminded me a lot of Spoon. Admittedly, I’m not a big fan of Spoon, but I won’t turn them off when they pop up in a playlist. I think these songs are well-written, but for some reason, they don’t really differentiate themselves much to my ears. There’s a bit of a lack of….well….hooks, I suppose. The songs feel like sketches of an idea, rather that fully realized individual visions - in some cases, this approach can be wonderful (Pink Flag, Double Nickels on the Dime, etc.) but in this case, it doesn’t quite reach that level of wonder. In those albums, even though so many of the songs feel like sketches, many of them contain these highly unique musical phrases, breaks, and self-contained hooks. The pacing will often be interrupted briefly, bringing your attention to something specific, before resuming operation - you don’t forget it when it happens - here, it feels like a fairly well-maintained tempo of indie-rock chug, sprinkled with some “oohs”, “aahs”, and a bit of dusting of unique instrumentation (xylophone, synths, strings, piano, etc.). I uhhhh….I like it. But I wouldn’t say I love it. It’s serviceable. Like Spoon, I wouldn’t turn it off if it popped up on my speakers. But also like Spoon, I feel that it’s missing something - it’s missing truly memorable hooks, it’s missing some kind of aggression, it’s missing a deeper feeling and emotion that marks my favorite kinds of music. Perhaps the most surprising part of the whole album to me was the vocal beatboxing at the end of “Sit Tight”. It sounds a little silly, but you know what, it sold me on it upon the second listen. To Marie: thanks for the rec, and I’m curious, is this sound of theirs consistent through their discography or does their sound change? Are there any other albums of theirs you’d recommend to a newcomer? 6.5/10 Edit: ****, rubber soul already compared them to Spoon, here I was thinking I was being original.