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Last April i got to see dreampop act Field Mouse play at The Masquerade. At the show, i spoke with socially awkward vocalist Rachel Browne (the sight of us two vaguely shy people talking must have been amusing any nearby extroverts!) and she gave me a copy of this CDR that the band had put together for their tour. It contains seven tracks, three of which have been reviewed before on EvilSponge, Two of which are band new, and two of which are remixes of songs from their second 7" single, which has not been reviewed here (yet). So, mostly new music for the avid listener.
The first two tracks are You Guys Are Gonna Wake Up My Mom and Happy, which are the sides of their Small Plates debut 7" record. I reviewed this before, so aside form noting that both songs are still fresh sounding slices of dreampop, let's move on.
The first new song is Tomorrow Is Yesterday, which is a digital single the band released on Bandcamp on 07 February 2013. It starts off with warbling bass and marching drums before guitars grind in. Browne's voice is up front, and the guitars are almost buried under the steady rhythm. It reminds me of Elastica, or maybe Automatic-era Jesus and Mary Chain, only with better vocals. It crunches along at a steady pace, a sort of drum-centric propulsion that i associate with the late 1990s. But her voice is light and hushed over the mix, which really makes the song.
The next tune is another new one called Reina. This does not appear to be available online anywhere else. Her voice is very light here, but i like the way the guitar is kind of plinking along. In fact, the guitars really make this one, steady plinking on the verses, and soaring under echo on the choruses. Towards the end, there is a part where the guitars flow fast and Browne sort of speaks her vocals, muttering them more than singing, as the song takes a slight curve into Gothy territory. Hearing this, i would love to hear Ms. Browne and company cover Siouxsie.
Their first non-cover digital single, Glass, is next. I reviewed this when i reviewed their debut 7", so let's move on.
The final two tracks are remixes of the two songs on their second 7", which was released on 16 October 2012 by Lefse Records. The B-side of that release is Field Mouse's cover of Falling (The Theme from Twin Peaks, and on this EP we get the Mister Lies Edit. It is a strange version, Browne's voice is slowed down in a weird way, which makes it seems deeper, and more like Julee Cruise, who of course did the original version of the song. However, well, this kind of defeats the purpose of the cover for me. I like their version having Browne's higher pitched voice, which makes the pretty close and immediately recognizable cover into something special, something that Field Mouse owns. Otherwise, it's a decent dub tune with clattering, echoed percussion.
The final track here is the Exitmusic remix of How Do You Know, the A-side of the single. Exitmusic does a fine job, taking Field Mouse's dreampop tune and cutting it up, distorting the hell out of it, burying the melody under an intense tremolo while rhythms chug along. It's pretty cool, really.
I really enjoy this, and i really enjoy Field Mouse in general. Ms. Browne, thanks for giving me the EP. IF you enjoy light pop with distorted guitars and gentle, rich vocals, then you should check this band out.
I wanted to review this because i just found out that Field Mouse have successfully completed a KickStarter campaign to raise money to record their debut LP. That's pretty cool, and i look forward to hearing it when it comes out, which will hopefully be this year.
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