Pitchfork

There's something in the water in Sunderland, something that helps the English city's bands churn out tight, punchy guitar-pop in earnest. And Field Music and the Futureheads just love that Sunderland water: they drink it straight up, mix it with their tea and Tang, bathe in it, water their plants with it, and guzzle it every night before bed.

Perhaps it was a chance meeting by the water cooler, then, that led the Futureheads to ask Field Music's Dave Brewis to record some demos for the love-hounds. "The Futureheads are working on new songs," Brewis told BBC 6 Music's Tom Robinson recently (thanks to Memphis Industries for the heads up), "and I know how to use the studio, so they asked me to record them. It's just demos and stuff, just ideas-- 'cause they've got loads of them."

Field Music aren't exactly short on ideas either. Their sophomore LP, Tones of Town, is packed with them. As previously reported, the Memphis Industries-stamped disc arrives January 22 in the UK and February 20 in the U.S. You can already hear quite a few of its jams in various places around the interweb-- including latest single "A House Is Not a Home", right below. The new video for the tune has our Field Music lads invading a young couple's dwelling space; it's quite funny in a silly sort of way that only our cousins across the pond seem capable of pulling off:



"There's nothing wrong with this piano" ought to be some sort of catchphrase, methinks. The "A House Is Not a Home" 7"/digital single, backed with non-album track "Logic", hits UK shoppes on January 14.

And since Field Music's Dave Brewis knows how to use a studio, it should come as no surprise that he's got a side-project going right now. Thus far, this Brewis brother's School of Language has only one demo and 22 MySpace friends, but we suspect both numbers will explode very soon: that demo, "Rockist Part 1", builds a rhythm from what sounds like vowel-pronunciation exercises (Bobby McFerrin would be proud) and should more than appease fans of Field Music's streamlined pop.

Finally, Field Music hit the roads of Europe at the end of this month.

Stars of track and Field Music:

01-26 London, England - Tapestry Club at St. Aloysius Church
02-01 Oslo, Norway - Garage
02-02 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser Medis
02-03 Copenhagen, Denmark - Rust
02-13 Newcastle, England - The Cluny
02-18 Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Paradiso
02-19 Hamburg, Germany - Molotov
02-20 Berlin, Germany - Mudd Club
02-23 London, England - ICA
02-25 Dublin, Ireland - Whelan's
02-26 Leeds, England - Cockpit
02-27 Birmingham, England - Glee Club
02-28 Glasgow, Scotland - The Admiral Bar