Field Music – ‘A House Is Not a Home’ (Memphis Industries) Released 22/01/07

Built around a Beethoven piano figure, Sunderland trio Field Music’s new single is the second to be taken from forthcoming second album ‘Tones of Town.’  A playful, lolloping tune with a strangely wholesome feel about it, you could imagine it featuring on a new TV series about the heart warming adventures of a lovely old sheepdog.  With the piano providing a constant thread throughout, a strong, simple melody is given texture with the aid of imaginative string flourishes, a little country flavoured guitar and some tricksy drumming.  Lyrically, the song seems to bemoan the domestic side of single life, and all in all this ambitious but unassuming number suggests Soft Bulletin-era Flaming Lips transposed to the north east of England.  Which is no bad thing.