Field Assembly

"It's better in the dark… I know, I know." Embedded within the alluringly barren "Out of the Arms," Windsor, ON singer-songwriter L. Adam Fox sums up Field Assembly's M.O. on his debut, Broadsides & Ephemera. Like his peers (and fellow Windsorites) Elliott Brood and Sunparlour Players, the majority of his songs focus on the struggles of the working man, the only difference being that Fox's struggles remain strictly of the heart. Although songs like "Alkali" and "Poisoned Mind" conjure up comparisons to the holy trinity of indie roots rock (Oldham, Molina and Kozelek), Fox takes his impassioned whisper/wail a bit further, incorporating Sweet'n Low melodies, coming off surprisingly dramatic and attractive run through sand-raked guitar and pebbles-on-a-beach keys, courtesy of Fox and some of Windsor's best musicians (including Johnny West and members of Yellow Wood). A weathered and clever songwriter, Broadsides & Ephemera shows Field Assembly as a project that harmoniously removes the slash between singer-songwriter.