Last modified on Sun 25 Apr 2021 04.13 EDT
Followers of Sunderlandâs Field Music â David and Peter Brewis and associates â revel in the bandâs on-beat, cerebral funk. Any simplification of their filigreed sensibility might be seen as dumbing down. But simplify is precisely what Field Music have done. Do Me a Favour is an out-and-out pop song with a 4/4 beat and simple chords elevated by the elasticity of the brothersâ twin falsettos. With a wry wink, the video for No Pressure literally breaks down the track for the listener.
The album from which these songs come â
Flat White Moon, the bandâs eighth â comes with all sorts of olive branches, dialling down the brothersâ more forbidding instincts and amping up their love of soft rock. Sweet Beatles harmonies and body-friendly time signatures are foregrounded; the bandâs unorthodox melodies come across as inspired, rather than as a secret handshake exchanged between initiates; much emotion is packed into these precise lyrics.