owl and bear

2007, Memphis Industries

About thirty seconds into Field Music’s Tones of Town, I was convinced that someone had fucked up.

This is somehow that holy grail of 70’s burnouts, the unreleased Steely Dan record, right? No, mean joke it ain’t, but this album sure has an overweening ‘70s vibe. Try to not picture these fellas in handlebar mustaches and bellbottoms, checking out the trim at the club. Try and fail.

Yes, Tones of Town is competent, but even the best songs have that “heard it before” vibe. And to elude to the ‘Dan here is disturbing, not good: see, Becker and Fagan were a couple of music nerds surrounded by sidemen, so it always sounded plastic and perfect, but this is a band—Field Music shouldn’t have that feel at all. These guys need to loosen up, lose the robotic sound, and try some field research.

C+