Tones Of Town - Field Music

Last month I waxed lyrical about A House Is Not A Home, the new single from Field Music. It was quite brilliant. The problem of course is that you always worry that a brilliant opening single doesn't always translate into a brilliant accompanying album. Fears seems to rescind when a plethora of five-star reviews surfaced for Tones Of Town and whilst I would not go as far as to agree wholeheartedly with those "amazing" reviews, the album is still well worth a listen.

Despite the obvious "Englishness" of the sound, there is more of a West Coast USA feeling to the tunes. Indeed one could almost label it The Kinks meet The Beach Boys, although that would certainly be giving it too much credit in terms of reaching the quality of those acts.

The majority of the album provides bright, breezy pop with melodies that instantly stick in your brain. Particular highlights, alongside A House Is Not A Home, include In Context (with it's starting drum beat that brings to mind Nelly Furtado's Maneater!) and Give It Lose It Take It, one of the album's more boisterous moments.

It doesn't always work however; Sit Tight is especially disappointing, being a less effective retread of A House Is Not A Home with the human beatbox interlude being almost laughable. Still these moments are pleasingly few and for the most part this is a delightful album, albeit a one paced one. It's pleasant more than anything else although there are moments which lift it above that less than flattering description. It's unlikely to blow your mind but you will enjoy the experience whilst it lasts.