Biography
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Years Active
2004 – present (20 years)
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Founded In
Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom
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Members
- Andrew Moore (2004 – 2007)
- David Brewis (2004 – present)
- Ian Black
- Kev Dosdale
- Peter Brewis (2004 – present)
Field Music are a band from Sunderland in north-east England led by brothers David and Peter Brewis. Commonly described as making "experimental pop" music, they have released nine 'proper' albums: Field Music (2005), Tones of Town (2007), Field Music (Measure) (2010), Plumb (2012), Commontime (2016), Open Here (2018), Making A New World (2020), Flat White Moon (2021), and Binding Time (2024).
They have also released a compilation of B-sides (Write Your Own History, 2006), a collection of cover versions (Field Music Play..., 2012), a film soundtrack (Music For Drifters, 2015), and an EP of songs written and recorded around the same time as Flat White Moon (Another Shot, 2021).
Three of these albums (2015's Music For Drifters, 2020's Making A New World, and 2024's Binding Time) began as commissioned projects, originally intended to be played for specific events before ultimately being released in an album format. Music For Drifters was commissioned by the Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival and acts as a soundtrack to the 1929 silent film Drifters. Making A New World was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum and is a concept album inspired by the end of World War I and its subsequent effects on the world in the following century. Binding Time, inspired by the inception of the Durham Miners Association and the history of the coal industry in North East England, was commissioned for the Durham Brass Festival and was arranged for performance with a selection of brass instrumentalists from the NASUWT Riverside Band.
Plumb was nominated for the 2012 Mercury Prize.
After the release of Tones of Town, the group announced a break, leading to solo releases by the brothers (David's "Sea From Shore" under the name School of Language and Peter's album as The Week That Was, both 2008), before reconvening in 2009. Both brothers have continued releasing music outside of the band: School of Language now has 3 albums and an EP, while Peter has worked with contemporaries Paul Smith of Maxïmo Park (Frozen By Sight) as well as Sarah Hayes of Admiral Fallow (You Tell Me).
In 2022, the Brewis brothers created their own record label (Daylight Saving Records), hosting what they initially referred to as "extra-curricular activities;" releases include Slug's Thy Socialite!, the acoustic David Brewis solo album The Soft Struggles, a collaborative EP with former band member Andrew Moore entitled Songs From The Shelf, and the mostly-instrumental electronic Peter Brewis solo album Blowdry Colossus, all released in 2023. Binding Time is the first Field Music album to be released under Daylight Saving Records.
All Field Music albums were self-produced at the band's studio space in Sunderland.
Other musicians who have played in the group in some form include Andrew Moore, Tom English, Kevin Dosdale, Ian Black, Damo Waters, Andrew Lowther, Peter Gofton, Mark Simms, Emma Fisk, Peter Richardson, Liz Corney, and Pauline Brandon.
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