Where were you in '92? While it's doubtful the members of Field Mouse had reached double digits in age, the New York-based four-piece certainly took a lot from the era's heroes. Their debut, Hold Still Life, borrows shoegaze ambience, J Mascis's crunchy guitar histrionics and Velocity Girl's inherent sense of melody and blends it all into a sublime mix of '90s-indebted indie rock.
The record starts off strong with "A Place You Return to In a Dream" and the soaring "Tomorrow is Yesterday," while "Two Ships" shows the band functions just fine when deprived of their fuzz pedals. Field Mouse aren't able to sustain this energy throughout Hold Still Life's 12 tracks, but there are still some gems to be found on its back half, where singer-guitarist Rachel Browne's voice is equally at home on bouncy indie pop numbers as it is on spacey dream-poppers. Doubling as a primer in early '90s indie rock sub-genres, Field Mouse's debut is a satisfying if not stunning slab of guitar rock.
(Topshelf Records)The record starts off strong with "A Place You Return to In a Dream" and the soaring "Tomorrow is Yesterday," while "Two Ships" shows the band functions just fine when deprived of their fuzz pedals. Field Mouse aren't able to sustain this energy throughout Hold Still Life's 12 tracks, but there are still some gems to be found on its back half, where singer-guitarist Rachel Browne's voice is equally at home on bouncy indie pop numbers as it is on spacey dream-poppers. Doubling as a primer in early '90s indie rock sub-genres, Field Mouse's debut is a satisfying if not stunning slab of guitar rock.