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Nov 28, 2017 By Christopher Roberts Field Music

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Britain’s Field Music (anchored by brothers Peter and David Brewis) are releasing a new album, Open Here, on February 2, 2018 via Memphis Industries. Previously they shared a teaser trailer video for the album, but now they have shared its first full single “Count It Up.” The song points out how comparably lucky all of us who live in democratic and developed countries in the Western world are. Some examples include: “if you’ve ever owned a car,” “if your mother had a job and your dad had a job when you were growing up,” “if you’ve ever visited another country and walked through passport control,” “if you get to choose the clothes you wear and how you cut your hair,” “if you can go day to day without the fear of violence,” “if people don’t stare at you on the street because of the color of your skin,” and “if you’ve ever had the luxury of turning down a job.” All of those things can be counted up to equal a better life than many live on this planet. Check the song out below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

David Brewis wrote the song on his young son’s toy keyboard after the Brexit vote and had this to say about it in a press release: “I’ve been down and angry about the state of everything lately. Our town [Sunderland] has become infamous in that it was the first place that voted for Brexit, and that threw into really stark relief loads of fears I have about where we live. It’s been a downtrodden place for quite a long time and people look for someone to blame. I went through a period not long after the global financial crisis when I read a lot about economics. There’s a section in a book by Joseph Stiglitz called Making Globalisation Work about how those on the right hand side of the political spectrum tend to ascribe their fortunes entirely in the frame of their own talents. If somebody is poor it’s because they’re stupid, and if I’m rich it’s not because my parents gave me a great start in life, or money, or a great education, it’s because I’m talented and brilliant. I think all of that fed into this howl of rage set to what’s basically my version of [Madonna’s] ‘Material Girl.’”

Open Here is the follow-up to Commontime, which was released this past February 5 via Memphis Industries (so Open Here comes out almost exactly a year later). “Where Commontime felt like a distillation of all of the elements that make up Field Music, this feels like an expansion,” said David Brewis in a previous press release, “as if we’re pushing in every direction at once to see how far we can go.”

Open Here was recorded at the band’s own studio in Sunderland and also features the following musicians: Sarah Hayes on flute and piccolo, Liz Corney (Cornshed Sisters) on vocals, Pete Fraser on saxophone, Simon Dennis on trumpet and flugelhorn, and a string quartet of Ed Cross, Jo Montgomery, Chrissie Slater, and Ele Leckie. A previous press release described the album as such: “The result is a record that is bigger in scale, and grander than anything Field Music have done before. A lush and imaginative release that fits neatly into the lineage of late ‘70s and early ‘80s pop experimentalists like Godley & Creme, XTC and Todd Rundgren, while applying a sonic palette, production aesthetic and worldview that is distinctly forward looking.”

Field Music Tour Dates:

02 Feb, Newcastle, Northern Stage
03 Feb, Newcastle, Northern Stage - Matinee Show
03 Feb, Newcastle, Northern Stage
08 Mar, Brighton, Komedia
09 Mar, Bristol, The Lantern
10 Mar, Southampton, Engine Rooms
11 Mar, Exeter, Phoenix
15 Mar, Birmingham, O2 Institute 2
16 Mar, Manchester, Gorilla
17 Mar, Glasgow, Saint Luke’s
22 Mar, Liverpool, Arts Club
23 Mar, Sheffield, Foundry
24 Mar, Norwich, The Waterfront
25 May, London, Barbican w/ the Open Here Orchestra

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