Don't Sleep Without Horses

The Crayon Fields is one of the most accomplished pop outfits today, and on their second album All the Pleasures of the World they continue to explore the Oddessey & Oracle inflections of their debut and Geoff's album as Sly Hats, but with a completely modern production that makes it swing more crisply than Phoenix or Tahiti 80 ever managed to.

I never got the chance to see them live in Melbourne (even though I bumped into Geoff once) nor in Europe when they were over here in the spring, together with The Motifs whom they share several members with. I hope they will come back soon to tour the new album, which was released on Australian label Chapter and Japanese Rallye Records in the autumn. It includes the two previous singles "Mirror Ball" and "Voice of Paradise", the latter of which is a pop tour de force in the Felt vein, starting and ending with haunting flageolet chords.

But actually each and every song here is as solid as a solid-body Danelectro, and together with the eight new tracks these songs create a resonant totality that is very uncommon in this day of digital releases and blogged musical tidbits. It's not an album that speaks loudly, but hopefully it's message will slowly resonate through the floorboards of magazine offices. It is the music from downstairs.