Tough Tones: Field Music

FIELD MUSIC looks like such a nice bunch of British lads. So it's hard to imagine why they'd be part of Sunderland City Detached Youth Project, which helps kids get off the streets and play music.

"Because our mom is a youth worker there," said David Brewis, who along with brother Peter and Andy Moore comprise Field Music. "So me and Peter just ended up teaching there — teaching guitar and bass, and just generally helping out there on Saturday mornings."

See, they're nice boys, not ruffians.

"There were a few ruffians there," Brewis said, "but Sunderland still follows kids who want to play guitar and who wouldn't turn down free practice time. ... I think they would call it 'peer education' — but we were the bosses."

As bosses of Field Music, the Brewis brothers write crisp songs that conjure XTC, The Jam and other sharp, edgy '80s mod-pop, but David said its purely coincidence. "The '80s, for me, weren't about XTC or The Jam; we just wouldn't have heard them. The '80s, for me, were Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush and my parents' records."

Ah, such good chaps.

A more contemporary comparison would be The New Pornographers, especially with Field Music's second album, "Tones of Town" (Memphis Industries). The 11-track CD is 33 minutes of richly melodic but exceedingly smart and crafted pure pop.

The multilayered "Tones of Town" builds on Field Music's 2005 self -titled debut, which was self-consciously minimalist and influenced by The Band's eponymous second album.

"We were sick of bands who were touted as being experimental, but their songs are very, very normal — they just put some weird sounds over the top and people treat it like it's the end of history," Brewis said.

"Every indie band going wants to sound a bit edgy," he continued, drawing out the last word sarcastically. "So what they do is just put a flippin' burbling little synth over what's just an absolutely normal, boring indie song.

"I wanted the experimentation to be deeper within the song."

That's our kid.

For those who were looking forward to Field Music's concert with Menomena and Land of Talk at the Rock and Roll Hotel last Saturday: The group canceled because "the band have been offered a performance spot on U.K. television that is too good to be passed up," said publicist Sheila Breen from Tag Team Media in a written statement.

Photo courtesy Mephis Industries