These New Puritans - Field of Reeds: This wonderful record was released pretty quietly last year, but I’m so glad it’s being reissued for college radio spins because it made my Top 10 list at year’s end. On Field of Reeds, weirdo art-rockers These New Puritans have pretty much removed “rock” from the equation entirely, replacing angsty shouts and guitar squall with sighing clarinet and mournful trumpet. The neoclassical sound on display here is highly reminiscent of Talk Talk’s masterpieces from the late 80’s and early 90’s (by the way, if you haven’t heard Spirit of Eden yet, please thank me after your spiritual reawakening), from the nearly unintelligible vocals to the ominous sense of space that pervades the album. Field of Reeds invites you to places that music doesn’t often venture to and then explores those settings in unconventional ways. This is often a quiet record, but don’t mistake it for easy listening or background music. “Fragment Two”, for instance, begins with a catchy piano hook that effortlessly skips between 3/4 and 4/4 time. The song veers between time signatures with a practiced unease as the song unspools itself; the arrangement feeds off its own dizzying energy, with motifs being passed from piano to violin, violin to French horn, French horn to voice. These tracks were clearly fussed over for an unimaginable period of time before being put to tape, as evidenced by the intricacy of the songwriting. Listening to a 30-second sample of this music is useless, as context is so essential to its power. There are no verses or choruses to latch on to here, only moments: the achingly beautiful horn harmonies on “This Guy’s in Love with You” (a wistful half-cover of the Herb Alpert tune), the thick, stagnant synth hovering over the outro of “V (Island Song)”, the surprisingly excellent kazoo (!) melody on the title track. I want to build a nest inside these moments. They stir up those well-worn feelings of joy, uncertainty, loneliness, and yearning in ways I’ve never heard before – and I’d like to think they help me understand the complexity of those emotions a bit better. TL;DR: Field of Reeds reminds me of why I love music so dearly. ZN
