Field Music

It’s not every day you find a band who can follow up a brilliant debut album of perfect pop with a collection of early singles and b-sides that are just as impressive, so take the time to meet Sunderland’s Field Music, if you haven’t already. Despite being signed to the chic Memphis Industries and having one time featured members of both the Futureheads and Maximo Park, Field Music earned worldwide accolades in 2005 for their music, not their associations. Their self-titled debut was a charming set of exquisite and inventive pop songs that were bolstered by meticulously timed arrangements. Presented by the band as "ideas we tried to realise,” Write Your Own History feels less like a strewn together compilation of old songs and more like a secret, preliminary lost album dug out of some dusty crate. While it doesn’t have the production sheen that coated Field Music, the quality of songs are certainly on par, demonstrating their skill in orchestrating song structures goes all the way back to 2000’s "Can You See Anything.” The strings on the 98-second "Breakfast Song” prove big budget ideas can be accomplished without any money and with the right inspiration, while early assistance from a drum machine on two tracks adds yet another layer to their canon. If only every history could be this exceptional.