This is an album for album lovers, a complete set of tracks purposefully arranged, to be listened to as a whole; an album for those who love to drift away into another world. Plumb is a magical soundtrack, a set of miniatures that are full of life and energy, even in their brevity doling out emotional pinpricks. It's an album trimmed of all its fat, leaving true statements of what Field Music want you to hear.
Ranging between 40 seconds and four minutes, brothers David and Peter Bewis power through 15 songs in 35 minutes, riffing on the mundane difficulties of life. There's a distinctly British taste to their musings about commuting to work on Sorry Again Mate, where their vocal approach sounds a little like Supertramp; or the troubles of consumerism on Choosing Sides. "I want a different idea of what better can be, that doesn't necessitate having more useless shit," sings brother David.
Musically their influences range from Prince, to the Beatles, to Chopin, to Pink Floyd, and there's a humour akin to The Books or even the sly falsetto wit of local songsmith Lawrence Arabia. It's a winning combination of interchanging time signatures and interchanging hooks, that somehow remain darn groovy.
2010's Measure was in a more mainstream vein with fully fledged rock songs, but here (on their seventh album in seven years) returning to their more fragmented approach, they captivate with their lush instrumentation and grand dynamics, and sweetly incisive vocal interplay.
Stars: 4/5
Verdict: Beautiful fragmented miniatures which make the mundane magical.
