[4/5] Don't confuse Fields with fellow across-the-pond rockers Field Music-especially since the former are a co-ed U.K. quintet who conjure Muse huddled around a campfire, with plenty of Doves' grandeur and Ash-like sass thrown in for good measure. Unsurprisingly, one needs to spin Fields' full-length debut, Everything Last Winter, multiple times to appreciate the complex but heart-tugging prog-folk dream-pop contained within. Opener "Song For The Fields" embodies Winter's m.o.: Pastoral strumming sets a false sense of security before the song suddenly explodes into a storm of angsty guitars driven by intertwining-like-ivy vocals from dramatic emoter Nick Peill and ethereal wailer Thorunn Antonia-who cry, "You're not the only one" in slightly menacing, slightly longing tones, just like Fields' music itself. Elsewhere, the lazy skyscraping chords and woozy vocals on "School Books" out-prog even the Decemberists' latest disc, while the sing-song jangle "You Brought This On Yourself" could be a lost Smiths classic. (BLACK LAB/ATLANTIC) Annie Zaleski
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