The Smokehouse Presents Field Music for Independent Venue Week 2022 at new venue The Baths!

“We want to make people feel good about things that we feel terrible about” says David Brewis, who has co-led the band field music with his brother peter since 2004. it’s a statement which seems particularly fitting to their latest album, flat white moon released on 23 April via Memphis Industries.

Sporadic sessions for the album began in late 2019 at the pair’s studio in Sunderland, slotted between rehearsals and touring. the initial recordings pushed a looser performance aspect to the fore, inspired by some of their very first musical loves; free, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles; old tapes and LPs pilfered from their parents’ shelves. but a balance between performance and construction has always been an essential part of field music.

By march 2020, recording had already begun for most of the album’s tracks and, with touring for making a new world winding down, Peter and David were ready to plough on and finish the record.

The playfulness that’s evident in much of flat white moon’s music became a way to offset the darkness and the sadness of many of the lyrics. much of the album is plainly about loss and grief, and also about the guilt and isolation which comes with that.