Field Report: Field Report (self-titled)

8.3

I admit, I'm a bit late to this. I caught their opening act performance in New York for Sara Watkins. Then I was invited to a private gathering in an apartment for an acoustic show for friends. The singer is definitely not the typical alt country singer songwriter you'd see at the local open mic. He is more like a young Bruce Springsteen, a true artist who has something pure and sustainable to sing about. I cannot stress it enough, Field Report brings a certain kind of sincerity you don't hear often. Perhaps, they are more suited for a past generation like the 70's. The lyrics are stories and scenes of a troubadour, and the band is euphorically organic' (two words I've never seen placed next to each other). If you're a Tom Waits fan, or a listener of that ilk, you will love this band. This is whiskey stained music for the wandering camper, the folk enthused record devotee, and the purists. You won't find any watered down versions of older songs, but new offerings by a group of talented players that are so fluent, I almost feel like they could be art dudes that used to be grade A Berklee students. This may suffer the mis-category issue, as to what genre to call this. Ambient Folk? Neo-Country? Not sure how that will play out, but I am happily surprised to have found them and look forward to anything more to come in the future.