Write Your Own History

Write Your Own History
Studio album by Field Music
Released May 9, 2006
Genre Indie
Length 25.2 Minutes
Label Memphis Industries Records
Producer Peter Brewis / David Brewis
Field Music chronology

Field Music (album)
(2005)		 Write Your Own History
(2006)		 Tones Of Town
(2007)

Write Your Own History is a compilation of B-sides and previously unreleased material by the Sunderland band Field Music. From the (entirely typographical) album cover & liner notes:[1]

"...Field Music's debut album was recorded and mixed before we'd even decided upon a name, though the three core members have played together in one form or another for over ten years. When Memphis Industries suggested releasing the b-sides to Field Music's first three singles compiled onto a CD as a companion to the album, our response was 'only if it can be presented as what it is' - and specifically, that it isn't an indication of how much music we've created as Field Music, but is instead a compilation of the different music we'd been making and the ideas we'd tried to realise prior to the rather neat situation which is currently presented.

The two most significant precursors to the Field Music record were Electronic Eye Machine and The New Tellers, two groups with disconcertingly fluid membership led respectively by Peter and David Brewis and both featuring their school friend Andrew Moore. Peter's Electronic Eye Machine, initially an unwieldy seven-strong performance experiment, gradually disassembled itself into the near-practical four-piece which morphed into Field Music. The original incarnation of the band was documented on several home-cooked recordings, some of which were released as the 'Jesus Song' EP in 2002, which featured an early recording of You're Not Supposed To. Can You See Anything? eventually surfaced on the If Only The Moon Were Up single along with two latter-day New Tellers recordings.

Always a more studio-based and less collective banner than his brother's group, David's New Tellers nevertheless repeatedly borrowed EEM's members (and vice versa) and did venture onstage occasionally, though each variation of the group played only two or three times at most before disbanding to make way for the next infeasible idea. This itchy feet approach to performance extended to recordings - the versions of I'm Tired and Test Your Reaction included here were actually reworkings of songs which had already appeared on the EP and mini-album released by the band. The song Alternating Current predates even The New Tellers, but again, several versions of the song were recorded under that name between 1998 and 2003.

The other songs on this release do represent something closer to a dress rehearsal for Field Music. Breakfast Song, Feeding The Birds and Trying To Sit Out were actually older songs rerecorded by Peter, partly for the sake of curiosity and partly to try out two of the ideas which became very prominent through the recording of the Field Music album. Firstly, these were Peter's first attempts at arranging for a string trio. Secondly, these recordings test out the notion of pushing against strict, self-imposed limits - in this case, and with Field Music so far, by severely restricting the palette of sounds and instruments which could be used.

In The Kitchen is quite close to being the first true Field Music recording - the significant variation in approach here was to record the song as quickly as possible and to record instruments and voices together as often as was feasible, an idea which was applied to the sporadic recording sessions for the Field Music album, starting with the day spent recording Shorter Shorter in November 2003."

The album was well received for a B-sides album, getting a 7/10 from the Guardian[2] and winning praise from publications such as The Times.

Track listing

  1. "You're Not Supposed To" – 2:37 (2005)
  2. "In The Kitchen" – 3:41 (2003)
  3. "Trying To Sit Out" – 1:48 (2003)
  4. "Breakfast Song" – 1:49 (2003)
  5. "Feeding The Birds" – 2:11 (2003)
  6. "Test Your Reaction" – 4:08 (2002)
  7. "I'm Tired" – 2:47 (2002)
  8. "Alternating Current" – 3:08 (2002)
  9. "Can You See Anything?" – 3:20 (2000)

Personnel

You're Not Supposed To

The album opener, 'You're Not Supposed To', was later released as a single with a video depicting the band performing in a Northern England pub as the patrons form a large conga line and some join in playing instruments with the band. The single features a typographical cover similar to that of the album, but with larger text displaying the lyrics to the song rather than information on the band's history.

  1. "You're Not Supposed To" - 2:37
  2. "You're Not Supposed To (The Matinee Orchestra Remix)" - 3:26
  3. "You're Not Supposed To" (video) - 2:33

References

  1. ↑ Write Your Own History liner notes, Field Music - Memphis Industries, 2006
  2. ↑ http://memphis.greedbag.com/buy/write-your-own-history-0/|Memphis Industries page with promo materials