the of mirror eye

* the field mice: five moments (8 mb) | and before the first kiss (8 mb) | willow (6.5 mb) | when morning comes to town (8 mb)
from where’d you learn to kiss that way? : shinkansen : 14cd

i’ve recently become a member of the ipod nation and purchased a nice, new, shiny 20gb model (i just couldn’t pass up a $100 off deal). and honestly, while i’ve got completely mixed feelings about this product, it’s definitely nice to have many (but nearly all) of my albums at my fingertips. one additional benefit is that in converting my albums to mp3, i’ve rediscovered music that i haven’t listened to in a long time. and that’s always a great thing.

one such rediscovery is this band, the field mice. i remember getting this awhile back on a hunch that i’d like it and from the first ghostly vocals of five moments, just being mesmerized by their sound. the liner notes painted this grand picture of a couple of regular blokes writing and recording perfect pop songs in the country side of south london. the field mice just seemed so sweet and naive, that i wanted to be their best friend.

other snapshots from 1988: first speaking to bobby on the phone, a few days before, from the tiny subterranean kitchen in bristol that was also our living-room, ofice, everything; those early letters, in neat handwriting and proper sentences, incredibly polite; the first demo that february - people always ask how we chose the songs for sarah, and it’s the hardest thing to explain, but somehow you always know, and it always hits first time, before the song’s even half-done, even if you can’t explain why something so simple, so unadorned, should move you so much….days before we were due to record the debut 7″, a cassette arrived of another song, when you sleep, that bobby wanted to include - just him, a guitar, and the distant bark of a neighbour’s dog. i remember asking if he was sure we could record and mix four songs ina day, and him saying it wouldn’t be a problem, as they’d actually done six at the session for that second demo (we’ve not heard the other two even now…).

(from the liner notes)

the notes wove this tale of a band that kept confounding everyone simply by doing what they wanted to do. they recorded and released songs at such a furious pace that when they toured, they would be playing songs from the yet unreleased record, instead of the one they currently had out.

the field mice broke up awhile ago due to crumbling relationships, but continue on in projects like northern picture library and trembling blue stars.

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hope everyone has been having a lovely holiday time!