David Brewis - The Soft Struggles [Vinyl]

David Brewis of the band Field Music releases his debut solo record The Soft Struggles on 24 February 2023.
After three albums as School of Language, David Brewiss next contribution to the ever-expanding Field Music universe is this jazz-inflected acoustic record. It will also be the second album release on Field Musics newly formed Daylight Saving Records label, intended as the home for the Brewis brothers extra-curricular projects.

The Soft Struggles veers away from Field Musics eclectic palette and instead leans into the luminous spontaneity of Van Morrisons Astral Weeks and the breathy, string-laden chamber pop of Colin Blunstones One Year. Several of the tracks were built around a single day of live recording at Field Musics studio in Sunderland, with Davids brother Peter on drums, Sarah Hayes (Admiral Fallow, You Tell Me) on piano and flute and Faye MacCalman (Archipelago) on clarinet and saxophone.

Theres something a bit magical about a bunch of musicians together in a room being thrown in at the deep end, says David, So many of my favourite records were made quickly by musicians sitting a few feet from each other, playing songs theyd never even heard before the session began. Thats what I tried to do with this album. A chord sheet, a set of lyrics, a brief chat about tempo and then, okay comrades, see you at the other side.

The soft struggles of the songs themselves touch on weariness and loss, disappointments allayed or accepted, anxieties overcome or temporarily elbowed aside, sometimes grasping for romantic, or parental, wisdom, and when wisdom isnt quite in reach, there are songs of consolation and wry hopefulness.

1. Can We Put it in the Diary? 2. Surface Noise 3. Tomorrow 4. When You First Meet 5. It Takes a Long Time 6. Start Over 7. Keeping Up With Jessica 8. High Time 9. The Last Day 10. The King of Growing Up

• Format Detail: LP [w/ download card]
• Format: Vinyl
• Genre: Indie & Alternative