Field Guide - Make Peace With That (Album Review)
Field Guide first came to our attention back in 2019 with the Full Time EP, a disarmingly delivered quartet of songs from the open heart of singer-songwriter Dylan MacDonald. We knew that if we kept our ears to the ground, it wouldn’t be long before the Canadian returned with a full-length album and, my, my, what a very lovely thing it is. Make Peace With That mixes lo-fi elements with a spotlessly detailed vocal and a warm, careful production. Tape hisses and floor creaks are all part of the charm and, with an average song length well below three minutes, it’s also got brevity on its side, which is always alright by me.
Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Field Guide relocated to Toronto just before the pandemic and spent the enforced solitude playing, writing and honing before returning to the prairies in May 2020 to begin recording. This resulted in two further EPs and this current nine-song set. Although acoustic guitar and vocal are at the record’s core, from the outset there’s an array of sonic experimentation thrown into the mix. Opener ‘I’m Okay’ introduces MacDonald’s trademark wobbly guitar overlays (which sound as if they were transferred from a chewed cassette tape) and sports sundry other judiciously placed clanks and keyboard interjections. Somehow, through all this, that wet-eyed intimacy is maintained and by the time Roman Clarke’s drum part arrives, we’re already at the song’s close. The bouncier groove of ‘Make You Miss Me’ is sunlit and catchy and, like ‘Me & You’ that follows, perfectly captures a love at its weightless beginnings.
More bittersweet is the beautifully observed ‘Tupperware’ that looks back affectionately on a relationship that ultimately didn’t survive its couple’s differences. This sanguine outlook feeds into the shuffle of the record’s title track, with its standout lyric: “maybe I’m just in my head/that’s often how I get/trying to numb the doubt/with alcohol and the internet”. At two minutes long it’s an unlikely centerpiece for the record but, like so much of this record, its charm lies in its smallness and modesty. ‘Nobody Else’ is sunny, bouncy and loved-up; in the hands of a hitmaker it would be a minute longer and no doubt miles less good. The equally brief ‘I Don’t Wanna Waste Your Time’, on the other hand, is more reflective and enigmatic; its abrupt ending, aiding the mystery.
Arguably, the album’s only misstep is the rather under-written ‘Thinking Too Much’ which manages to be irritating even at a minute and a half long. The records tender closer, thankfully puts things back on track. ‘Slow Down’, is, in this album’s terms, a relative epic (weighing in at a hefty 3mins 44seconds) and affords Field Guide more space to explore sonically, with banjo and spacey keys skittering across the jazzy Rhodes and guitar and that pin the track down. None of this busy-ness – not even the thunderstorm noises – detract from MacDonald’s irresistible, breathless vocal.
Make Peace With That is a warm bath of emotion I’ve struggled to rise from, these past few weeks and, as a result, these tender vignettes will forever reside in my musical memory. Give Field Guide two minutes of your attention (possibly less) and you’ll be similarly smitten.
Review by Rich Barnard
Make Peace With That is available now via Birthday Cake Media.
A new name to me, but based on the new EP, ‘Tigers in Your Backyard (Nocturnal Edition)’, Molly Murphy is one to watch. Initially, Molly embarked on a promising college career as a double Film and English Major pursuing a career in screenwriting but left all that behind to form a band (as you do). Murphy’s latest release finds the singer-songwriter adding a modern sheen to her traditional Celtic roots.