Were it not for The Week That Was, I wouldn’t have made it through the week that was.
The Week That Was is part of what happened to Field Music, whose Tones of Town was on my heavy rotation playlist last year. (The video for In Context even inspired a storyboard – that wasn’t approved, but which made us happy regardless.)
From Working to Work, now we have Learn to Learn; and whatever expectations I had of how this offshoot would sound were absolutely not met, and in fact heaved aside by synthesized booms. This is an album driven by drums, traveling from left to right eardrum and back again, anchoring Peter Brewis’ warble and the surprise of strings.
I treat albums like books, not like short story collections. The song order is a plot, if you will. It is rare for me to create playlists, even if iTunes believes I want to. I’m glad The Week That Was has a story, even if it becomes too obscure for me to follow. The tracks that ring in my ears long after I’ve removed the earphones are It’s All Gone Quiet, The Airport Line and Scratch the Surface.
Joel said, “It’s like Peter Gabriel. And Kate Bush.” I said, “Yes, early Kate Bush. The one where she has wings on the cover.” “That’s Never For Ever.” Just when I think I am savoring something new, I realize even the new has the old enfolded in its brilliant covers, and it is all the fresher mintier for it.