KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: * * *
Label: Etch N Sketch
Verdict: Could do better debut from melodic indie-shoegazer rockers
This debut from British-Icelandic quartet Fields takes off with the kind of heavy psychedelic swirl not heard since bands like My Bloody Valentine, Swervedriver and Ride in the early 90s.
Opener Song For The Fields starts with a folky, acoustic build up before powering into a rampant frenzy of keyboard squalls, guitar bursts, and bouncy break-neck drums.
However, the slight niggle with Everything Last Winter is that some songs, like the anthemic Charming the Flames, have flashes of Snow Patrol about them. Not that that's a bad thing, because the Snowies produce a wall of noise as good as anyone, it's just that Charming the Flames, with its brittle, Edge-style guitar riff, is the type of song you've heard many times before.
Then there's You Don't Need This Song (To Fix Your Brokenheart), which makes clever use of flute until it starts to grate and the wimpy boy-girl vocals don't help. Fields are better than that.
They're at their best on the upbeat jaunt of Skulls And Flesh And More and You Brought This On Yourself, which moves from sludgy to serenading. Album highlight is The Death, a searing slab of indie rock with dancey, shoegazer beats. It's this sort of raging intensity that makes them unique.
