If I were the owner of some kind of factory, preferably the kind in
which human employees and large machinery made up equal portions of the workforce with lots of assembly lines and conveyor belts, I would probably play Field Music’s Tones of Town over the PA system. Not only would the album’s turn-on-a-dime rhythms and snappy beats encourage industriousness and efficiency, but with any luck the infectious harmonies and general peppiness would lead to mass dance scenes a la “Dancer In the Dark.” From my office overlooking the main floor, I would
watch, tapping my foot. I dare say my factory workers would be among the happiest in the land, and their group dance sequences would be works of unparalleled choreographic beauty. The widgets produced by my factory would be renowned for their quality, but no one would know Tones of Town was the secret to their success.

Simply put, this is music for getting things done. The string-driven
inertia of the title track and cascading riffs of “In Context” foster
motion, be it dancing or just a stroll to the post office. Of course
Tones of Town is equally suited to a bookish afternoon in, maybe on a balcony overlooking a busy intersection. “Working to Work” is, appropriately enough, the sonic equivalent of a morning commute, all hurry-up-and-wait fragments linked by thin guitars and snares. From the opening chimes and beeps of “Give It Lose It Take It,” polyrhythm is the order of the day, and most of these songs seem to be a missed beat away from spiraling into chaos. Entropy is kept in check, in this case, by a rather conservative mixing aesthetic that calls to mind Belle and Sebastian.

The suspenseful arrangements and clever additions (real live
beatboxing on “Sit Tight,” for example) may keep you from noticing that the lyrics are some of the most mild-mannered twenty-something angst ever written. “A House Is Not a Home” laments the need for moving back in with the parents, while “A Gap Has Appeared” captures that sickening feeling you get when your world moves beneath you. Still, the delivery of their undeniably morose messages is so incongruously peppy that Tones of Town makes an excellent soundtrack to your daily errands or anything else you wish to accomplish. What’s
more, Field Music seem totally comfortable with these vertigo-inducing changes in direction and time signature — they appear to know exactly what they’re doing, and that is all that matters.

All these barely-constrained tracks serve as a long build-up to “She Can Do What She Wants,” a bittersweet but still-uplifting ode to free will in relationships. Here the melody and abruptly interrupted beat strike the perfect balance; the dance remix can probably already be heard in discotheques all over Europe, while the original is destined for broad circulation on post-breakup mix CDs. As an almost-closer “She Can Do What She Wants” is a masterpiece, unarguably the culmination of the chaos and woe introduced by the earlier tracks.

If “industrial” wasn’t already claimed as a genre, I’d apply it to the
whole of Tones of Town — not because it sounds like someone banging chains on steal plates, but because it would make my little factory workers so very diligent. Add it to your daily musical intake and marvel at what Field Music can do for your productivity.

Field Music Official Site
Memphis Industries