Field Music

First phase (2004-2007) - Field Music, Write Your Own History, Tones Of Town

Field Music released their self-titled debut album in August 2005. A collection of B-sides and earlier songs (including tracks written for The New Tellers and Electronic Eye Machine), Write Your Own History, was released in May 2006. Their second album, Tones Of Town, was released on 22 January 2007.

In an interview with BBC 6 Music in April 2007 the band claimed they were intending to split once the promotional engagements for Tones Of Town were completed in June 2007.^[3]

"We basically want to do things that aren't classed as 'Field Music indie band'. We're not going to be a band for a bit. But Field Music aren't going to be over because we've already got a bank account under the name, so we'll just continue as a company. It's time to go and do some real work."

Hiatus of Field Music brand (2007-2009) - The Week That Was, introduction of School Of Language

Field Music later confirmed that the band had not split, addressing the hiatus on their official website. Under the name School Of Language, David Brewis released the solo album Sea from Shore in February 2008 through Memphis Industries (in the UK and Ireland) and Thrill Jockey Records (in the US and Europe), while Peter Brewis recorded an album under the name The Week That Was. The self-titled album The Week That Was was released on 18 August 2008, also with Memphis Industries, and featured both David Brewis and Andrew Moore on some tracks.

Second phase (2009-2013) - Field Music (Measure), Plumb

In an interview with Stereogum in July 2009,^[4] the band confirmed that they had reunited (minus Andrew Moore) and were busy recording a third Field Music record. The 20-song double album, titled Field Music (Measure) was released through Memphis Industries in February, 2010 (15 February in the UK, 16 February in the US).

Field Music have been celebrated as one of the few bands to transcend and outlast the indie guitar band explosion of the mid-2000s. Describing the band as "a truly artful proposition in the pseud-filled landscape of contemporary Brit art-rock", music blog The Fantastic Hope puts this down in part to their "un-self-conscious anti-fashion stance", arguing that Field Music's "wayward pop from the fringes of academia is one of the most worthwhile ways in which rock//indie/guitar music/white pop/whatever might evolve".^[5] Critics have compared their music to acts as diverse as Steely Dan, XTC, Prefab Sprout, Peter Gabriel, Scritti Politti, Talking Heads and Todd Rundgren.^[6]

The band was chosen by Belle & Sebastian to perform at their second Bowlie Weekender festival presented by All Tomorrow's Parties in the UK in December 2010.

Their fourth album, Plumb, was released on 13 February 2012. It was preceded by the song "(I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing", available as a free download from their website. The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize that year. In an interview with Songfacts.com, legendary guitarist and producer Al Kooper said that Field Music is his favorite new band.^[7]

Third phase (2013–present) - Music For Drifters, Old Fears, Commontime, Open Here

In September 2013, it was revealed that Field Music had composed a soundtrack for the 1929 silent documentary Drifters.^[8] The film, which originally premiered alongside Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin, was made by pioneering Scottish director John Grierson and follows the working day of a herring fishing fleet as it sets sail from the Shetland Islands. Field Music premiered the work with a live performance and screening for Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival. This commission saw the original line-up of Peter Brewis, David Brewis and Andrew Moore reunite for the first time since 2007. A subsequent screening and performance took place at London’s Islington Assembly Hall in November 2013.^[9]

David Brewis played as a member of the touring band for former Fiery Furnaces singer Eleanor Friedberger on her UK tour in the summer of 2013.^[10] He released a second School Of Language album - Old Fears - in April 2014. Both David Brewis and Peter Brewis joined their former bass player Ian Black in the band SLUG, touring as support to Hyde & Beast in the autumn of 2014. Peter Brewis also released an album, Frozen By Sight, in collaboration with Maximo Park's Paul Smith on 17 November 2014.^[11] This consisted of 'baroque-pop' compositions by Brewis with edited excerpts of Paul Smith's travel writing sung in Recitative. A live performance of the album was staged, with other musicians including a string section, at Gateshead's Sage.

In November 2015, Prince posted a link to Field Music's newly released single "The Noisy Days Are Over" on his Twitter feed.^[12] In February 2016 the band released their sixth album as Field Music, Commontime.^[13] They performed two songs from the album—including "Disappointed", which featured in the "live" edition of the program—in the second episode of the 48th series of the BBC music show Later... with Jools Holland. The performance was cited in a BBC poll as one of the highlights of the series.^[14]

Early in 2016, the band completed their first UK tour in four years.^[15] It was followed up by a US tour, which included dates in Washington, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Seattle. They also played in California for the first time since the tour to promote 2007's Tones of Town.

In 2016, Field Music worked with Newcastle duo Warm Digits on the soundtrack for the film Asunder, commissioned as part of the 14-18 NOW series of events to commemorate the centenary of World War 1. Writing for The Guardian, the film's creative producer, Bob Stanley revealed that the compositions, which were scored for the Northern Sinfonia by Peter Brewis, had been inspired by Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Messiaen.^[16]

A seventh album, Open Here, was released in February 2018. The Guardian described it as a "grand masterclass in terrific tune-making". ^[17]

Albums

Compilations

• Write Your Own History - (B-sides/early rarities compilation) (9 May 2006)
• Field Music Play... (covers album) (1 October 2012)

Field Music Productions

Singles