Mellow indie rock is sort of a laughable genre because when everything is stripped away, it’s just elevator music. But ex-Wisconinite duo, Foreign Fields (previously Flights), have made mellow music cool to listen to. Ethereal without being categorized as dream pop, Anywhere But Where I Am is an epic, traveling through lush melodies and softened almost whisper-like vocals, much like Bon Iver’s style. An album of loneliness and introspection, the duo attempt to uncover a deeper meaning to life, relationships and nature. More often than not the music speaks louder than the lyrics, with instrumentals that rival symphonies and film scores alike. Flights take their slow and mesmerizing melodies and brings them to life with understated lyrics in songs like, “Taller” and “From the Lake to the Land”. Foreign Fields is the indie elitist’s Air, a band know for their ethereal yet almost electronic vibe. However, the duo takes on a more folk approach to their songs, allowing the theme of nature to play a more imminent part in their album—and everything is calm. When the music swells up, there is still a controlled aspect to where the melodies are going and how they are going to affect the listener. It’s almost scientific without becoming too thought out. They are a folk-electronic band, again, two genres that should never really mix, but the way this album pans out, an hour of your time to listen is incredibly worth it. Beautiful music to listen to while thinking, reading, dreaming or relaxing, for they are calm without being sleepy, they are powerful without being dominating, and the music they create is important to them and to their listener because in the end, that’s what music is supposed to do, and Foreign Fields proves that with their debut album.
… by British folk duo, Colour Sun has mastered the sound of the Americana/folk revival of the early 60′s. Featuring Jonny Pryor on vocals and guitar and Fiona de Wert on vocals, guitar, bass, and a slew of other instruments, the two have transported me back into the days of Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan by allowing the music to seep through the album instead of relying on mass produced sounds and fancy gadgets. While it is a cloudy day here on the east coast, I decided to settle down and listen to this album while reading Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed. However, I often found myself drifting from my book and focusing on the music that pulled me away. The first song on their debut album, “Wild Garlic” instantly hooked me, I was purely fascinated at how Fiona sounded exactly like Joni Mitchell (whom I love wildly),in the way she conveyed all the emotions needed for the song without going over the top. It was simplistic yet not boring, complex without sounding over produced, and certainly captured my “cloud day, lazy days” heart. I can’t wait to see what these two will do in the upcoming years, and hopefully they will end up touring in the states soon.
