Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Field Harmonics

Walls

Label: Wayside and Woodland Release Date: 01/07/2013

91043
levis517 by Radhika Takru June 27th, 2013

Do you miss epic45? The pensive twinkles and echoes on Slides? The scent of memories and sadness on In All The Empty Houses? The whispered lullaby that was May Your Heart Be The Map? Do you miss epic45?

If yes, then you'd best stay away from Rob Glover's Field Harmonics. Opt instead to hang out with the other half, Benjamin Holton's, My Autumn Empire (a satisfying facsimile).

UNLESS.

Unless you've an unapologetic taste that draws you towards New Order and not Joy Division. Unless Depeche Mode's morose charm sees you faking a seizure as you writhe and moan to Dave Gahan's blasphemy. Unless, you happen to like plastic synths spattered with 8-bit glitter. And drumpads, of course. Lots of drumpads.

Walls, Rob Glover's first offering as Field Harmonics, isn't really trying to hide anything. It is a patent homage to the Eighties and it, admirably, makes no bones about it. It doesn't pretend to be contemporary. It doesn't live under the illusion that it deserves a place in the twenty-first-century. It doesn't want to conform and contribute to the ubiquitous post-rock soundscapes that multiply enthusiastically on our indie blogs of choice like supercharged amoebae. Field Harmonics don't want to recreate the Eighties. They want to BE the Eighties.

And Rob's is the most authentic Eighties voice you'll hear in the 2010s.

Going solo reduces your resources, but gives you creative control. We would never have expected epic45 to create 'Happenstance' - the Human League may be a childhood memory, but it's not what soundtracks our flashes of nostalgia. We don't expect chillwave either (are we still using that word, or has everyone unanimously graduated to 'lo-fi'?), but 'Walls' and 'Kessler' are mutants that lesser writers would seize upon so they could nonchalantly call each a LOVECHILD of two distinct yet unrelated acts (that would be millionyoung + your new wave band of choice, fyi). These two tracks are made to be played on a summer night. Beachside. Where everyone's wearing stripes and sunglasses. And we see everything through that instagram filter that undersaturates primary colours.

See, you could be fooled into thinking Field Harmonics is anything at all to do with Rob's work as part of a team if you listened to just the plinky-ploonky 15 seconds of 'Proem' that breathe open the album. However, if you've stayed on the ball and heard 'Everyone' (parts 1 and 2) beforehand you know you're in for something resembling a basement project - adept, but forgiving. The hooks are few and far between, and the sound may drift into that dangerous patch where you can visualise the process of creation, without being able to focus solely on the music. Me, I can't listen to either of the 'Everyone's without seeing the laptop and the frown lines.

Walls suffers the same fate as the bands it ends up honoring - it can never be called 'beautiful'. But it gives you nothing to complain about. It's a capable, though not expert, guide leading you through a time that you never forgot.

TL;DR: Looking for epic45? Skip. Miss the Eighties? Get.

  • 6
    Radhika Takru's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing


  • Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees



Left-arrow

The Duckworth Lewis Method

Sticky Wickets

Mobback
91035
91044

The National at Roundhouse, London, South East England, Wed 26 Jun

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145
  • news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143

    news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141
  • news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139

    Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138
  • Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137

    Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
  • Festival Review


    Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019

  • 106135
MORE


    news


    The Neptune Music Prize 2016 - Vote Now

  • 103918
  • Takeover


    The Winner Takes It All

  • 50972

    Takeover


    10 Things To Not Expect Your Record Producer To...

  • 93724
  • review


    The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

  • 4317

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • feature


    New Emo Goth Danger? My Chemical Romance confro...

  • 89578

    feature


    DiS meets Justice

  • 27270
  • news


    Our Independent music filled alternative to New...

  • 104374
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND