Tones Of Town [CD]

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Field Music have created a masterpiece. They have pulled off the hardest trick in the book: making intricate and cerebral music sound poppy and accessible. By keeping songs short and packed with unexpected surprises, Tones of Town manages to delight well beyond its modest half-hour length. A provincial OK Computer, it has grand ambitions tempered by homely charm. Opening track Give It Lose It Take It combines a marimba study reminiscent of Steve Reich's Music for Mallet Instruments, 1970s power pop and the melodic meanderings of Jaga Jazzist; while managing to sound utterly earth-bound.

Lyrically the album is a rejection of prevailing metropolitan "values". Latest single A House Is Not A Home counters the urban chic mindset by reminding listeners that living on your own will never make a home. While the outstanding Working To Work blasts a personal pet hate: people who ask you what you do, as if your work defined your personality.

The album's been damned by faint praise. I've not seen a bad review, but neither have I seen it praised from the mountain-tops. And I suspect this boils down to the usual class prejudices that simmer in the subtext of British rock journalism. Most rock journalists (and I should know, it's a business I find myself in from time to time) are middle class white boys (like me). From the south of England (unlike me). And they define music by opposition: they love music made either by their polar opposites (working class northerners like Oasis making derivative but jubilant rock) or by people just like themselves (public school southerners like Radiohead making ambitious progressive rock). Field Music don't fit at either end of this spectrum. They're northern, but softly-spken and clearly in possession of a wide musical knowledge. They sit between the anthemic and the experimental. Some people believe the middle-ground is the incubator of mediocrity. It's not. It's the point of perfection. Midway between the ice cold and the scalding hot is the perfect, luxurious, sensual and relaxing bath.

Originality is the best hint to finding good music, when the world hears something different, a few months later, everyone's talking about it. Field Music were hyped up by the likes of NME as just another Futureheads, with less catchy songs, but they've hit down this negative image like a brick through the window. "Tones of Town" could not be any more original, the fuse of Britpop chords, joyful melodies and dare I say it, beat boxing could not work better. They've given it everything they've got and my oh my, they've done something special.

"Sit Tight" is a song to surpass any doubts about this band as to whether they can follow up their consistent debut with a better album, as does opener "Give It Lose It Take It". In an album than has so much depth to it, it takes as least 10 listens to fall for it, the opening two tracks rise to the back of your head instantly. 2 and a half minutes into "Sit Tight" and there is the pleasant sound of beat boxing and piano, that's something that I thought I'd never say. In fact this album surpasses any doubts any one could have about anything with this band. The peerless single "A House Is Not A Home" brings back the memories of the only 90's music that you could consider being any good, with sublime harmonies and ever-so-cool careless guitar riffing gradually bringing the song into its comfort song, the song changes every 30 seconds into a completely different verse/chorus/bridge and each one is better than the other. Unfortunately this isn't an album to listen to when you've got home from a stressful day at work, you have to literally concentrate when you listen to it, because there is always something special lurking somewhere in each song, a feeling of mystery, a hidden instrument, always somewhere, and as a listener, you tend to feel that it's your goal to find it.

"In Context" sounds like a brutal and successful attempt to place the band ahead of the likes of Maximo Park and Futureheads in the ranks of power-pop legends, it's a song that make you truly think about how much potential is reeking out of this band, and how wonderfully they're using it, they know they've got it, and they're sensibly flaunting it.

The dashing "She Can Do What She Wants" almost reminds you of the phenomenon that surrounded The Beatles, they sound like a band with such a fresh spirit and the closer on the album has a chorus to make you close your eyes for a few seconds and remember the best times of your life, it's not a life changing song, but it is for a couple of minutes.

Exquisite vocals flow through the whole of the record, not just on the lead vocals, everything is at perfect harmony, it feels like this record has been planned for years ago and has been tweaked about with until perfection for a decade almost. Having said that, this album is not perfection, it's pop perfection.

There is not a single poor or even average song on this album, there are only a couple of songs that come across worse than others but overall, the whole thing's perfect pop that should keep you busy for the next few months. No other band can truly change the way that we see punk-pop music in the future as much as this band. An essential independant album if there ever was one.

Field Music is one of the most underrated Britpop bands since... well, one of the most underrated Britpop bands ever. Their self-titled album last year was one of the musical highlights.

And in "Tones of Town," the Sunderland band manages to top their debut, with a nearly flawless collection of catchy, warm, colourful pop music, cobbled out of squiggly synth, drums and angular guitars. Everything is tighter, more polished, and more musically adept.

It opens with what sounds like a restaurant -- dishes clattering, voices conversing, general hubbub. As that dies away, a chiming melodiy grows louder and louder, with some bouncy, gritty electric guitars joining in.

And it blossoms into "Give It Lose It Take It," a peppy, sunny confection made of squiggly synth, angular guitars and the occasional wave of strings. "Give it away/Nothing's worth keeping that you can't say/Lose it, strip yourself down/Its giving away can always be found/All that you have is all that you need to be!" Peter and David Brewis croon.

They follow that with the rich, beatboxy pop of "Sit Tight" and the swirling tambourine-guitar pop of the title track. What comes after it is a string of deliciously endearing pop tunes -- sprightly pianopop riddled with violin and guitar, mellow ballads, funky guitarpop, synth-riddled rockers, and other layered tunes that will surely have you bouncing in your chair.

Whatever was good about Field Music's music in their first album is multiplied in this one -- the lyrics, the music, and the general feel have all gotten better. The music was fun guitarpop with some flourishes before, but now it's made up of dense little packages of catchy pop, woven together out of outstanding instrumentation.

But despite the deliciousness of the music, there's a vague feeling of discontent in these lyrics. The Brewis Brothers don't complain outright -- they're too bright to try the "poor li'l me" approach -- but their lyrics feel as if they yearn for something more, and don't know what it is exactly.

It's a direct counterpoint to the music, which is a sparkling collection of very tight, very polished little pop tunes. The angular little guitar riffs are wrapped in plenty of squiggly, sunny keyboard (courtesy of Andrew Moore), an occasional tambourine shake, lots of rippling piano, and some rapid-fire drums that add a rock edge to the sunny pop.

And Brewis does a good job balancing between the sunny music and wistful lyrics. His voice is strong and smooth, and he can murmur out those songs without sounding depressing. "Oh and you're a long way from home/All of the thoughts you had were not your own/Even the time you came was somebody else's time/But you're alive between the lines..."

Field Music churn out a brilliant second album in "Tones of Town," with its wistful songwriting and beautifully complex pop melodies. Absolutely a must-listen... and who knows what they'll come up with next?