Single Review – Towns : Fields / Heads Off (2011)

Towns are a hard working Bristol/Weston-Super-Mare based band formed from three musically confident and passionate school friends, currently playing all over their hometown since their first gig in February of this year, bringing their brand of revitalising contemporary indie rock to the masses on a sweeping surge of old school authenticity. The band have already been featured

on BBC Introducing and will be releasing their first single, ‘Fields’, on the 23^rd of May along with B-Side ‘Heads Off’ through London based Faculty Music Digital.

They are equal parts Brit-Pop and psychedelic noise, blending the sounds together seamlessly and including influences from a broad spectrum of albums that they list as being important in the construction of the band (Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’, The Smiths’ ‘The Queen Is Dead’ and the self-titled Stone Roses release). It’s the latter band that I can hear the most of in the two songs being released by Towns, the sound they create recalling the whimsical and dreamy easy-listening of early nineties alternative rock. The lyrics in leading track ‘Fields’ are certainly nostalgic in more than one sense, urging us to remember days when responsibility wasn’t important to us and spending time with our friends was top of the agenda. The chorus of the song pushes the dreamy quality already mentioned directly into the limelight, but this is where the song falls slightly flat, with not much backing up the leading vocal of ‘fields all day’ and the whole affair beginning to feel repetitive. I felt myself drifting off from the song, my concentration waning. It’s because of this that perhaps these two songs could alienate a large section of music lovers, only really appealing to fans of the mentioned bands and finding it difficult to find a home in the hearts of anybody else. 

That’s not to put down the effect of this band and their debut single, as overall the short tracks are a success. Late May is a good time to release these songs, their qualities lying in their summertime feel and echoes of mesmerizing freedom. I am sure that Towns have more to offer and I would be an attendee at a Bristol gig to see just how their sound converts from record to a live stage. They’re definitely a band to watch out for, perhaps creating more of a buzz with future releases.