The Field Mice – Skywriting

THIS is their best [mini] album in my view - their most diverse and most intriguing. It starts with a side long 9-minute sequencer epic which recalls Kraftwerk after discovering post-acid beats, then couples it with five tracks of equal diversity and depth on the flip: the shameless country & western pop rush of 'Canada'; the wide-eyed chiming Go-Betweens-esque 'Clearer'; the Factory/Postcard-influenced dancefloor angst of 'It Isn't Forever' [with THAT amazing, adrenalised metallic guitar climax at the end]; the atmospherically gorgeous slow-mo late-night ballad 'Below The Stars' with an almost onomatopoeic breakdown in the middle which conjures up EXACTLY images of lying on one's back gazing up at the heavens....and lastly, the defiantly strange noise-collage and sample-fest of 'Humblebee' - the Field Mice going full-on musique concrete.

It's a record which silences in one fell swoop all the band's detractors' preconceptions of them being twee anorak wimps.....

This vinyl sounds sooooo good.
The more experimental guitar sound and the incorporation of samples reminds me a bit of the work My Bloody Valentine were doing a few months earlier with Glider EP. "It isn't forever" finishes on a noisy climax similar to Don't ask Why.
Beautiful album....