THE SOUND of Field Divison is best described by borrowing terms from another medium - their music is cinematic and widescreen, one where the textures, atmosphere, and range of sonics fire the mind's eye of the listener.
Even if the album's second track, 'Big Sur, Golden Hour' did not have that title, it would still be impossible not to imagine a glorious sunrise over the Californian mountains and desert when listening to its opening, and the way it builds from picked guitar to luxuriant, sumptuous, vocals.
This is the debut of Field Division - Evelyn Taylor and Nicholas Frampton - and it lacks nothing in ambition and imagination in terms of arrangement, and in making their songs into potent sound worlds. A major debt to the Laurel Canyon scene, more generally, and to Buckingham-Nicks era Fleetwood Mac, in particular (no surprise then that Mackenzie Smith of fellow Mac obsessives Midlake is involved as drummer and producer ), are unashamedly worn on the sleeve.
However those arrangements and sonics sometimes swamp and overwhelm the songs. Stripping just a few back to vocals/guitar, with minimal accompaniment, thereby creating a diversity of intimate and epic would have served the album better overall. That said, there is much potential here, as evidenced by 'Innisfree (Let's Be The Peace Now )', which begins as a more sunny 'Heart Of Gold', before turning into a mighty, irresistible, secular gospel vocal workout.
