X out of 10

A musical joint venture between a classical guitar-playing former Birmingham schoolteacher, the daughter of the guy who composed the Icelandic national anthem, and a solid London-based rock and roll rhythm section promises to be either dreadful or delightful. In the case of 7 From The Village, Fields’ debut EP, the latter is fortunately the case.

The lead track, “Song for the Fields,” gives you a pretty clear idea of what’s to come: a catchy, classic-rock-inspired acoustic guitar hook and gentle vocal create a sense of tension, which peaks about a minute into the song, as layer upon layer of instruments and noise are added. Variations of this formula abound on 7.

Fields are at their best when the angelic voice of female vocalist Thorunn Antonia combines with band mate Nick Peill’s countertenor, merging into a single gender-bending voice that is sometimes playful, and sometimes downright ambiguous. The best examples of this vocal style can be found on the tracks “Heretic,” probably the best song on this disc, and “Isabel,” which starts out with a slo-mo electro vibe reminiscent of The Postal Service. “Roll Down the Hill,” a song in two parts, also takes advantage of the interplay between the male and female vocalists, before ending succinctly with the “ding!” of a triangle.

For all its successes, this record also has its share of near-misses. The otherwise-good “A Slow Crawling Hand,” with its dueling classical guitars and soothing “la la la” backing vocals, is besmirched by the inclusion of some phony, distracting studio noise that seems like an afterthought. There’s only one track, however, that seriously weighs down this collection, and ironically enough, it’s a fan favorite: “Brittlesticks.” The lead-in to this track sounds like a Cranberries song, and it sends me scrambling for the skip button every time (that mid-90s Irish alt-rock flavor, by the way, is present throughout the track).

I know that in a couple years, I will re-read the last sentence in the first paragraph of this article and laugh, because at the end of the day, Fields is a band that makes me fear for my musical credibility. It’s not anything to do with the quality of the band’s music, but rather the potential for their sound to be sugared-up and commercialized until it becomes the kind of ubiquitous all-pleasing drivel playing in the background of “The O.C.” or whatever the edgy teen drama phenomenon du jour may be. And unfortunately, it looks like my concern is justified. A sampler from Fields’ upcoming full-length (which you can hear on the band’s Myspace page) sounds like it has been dumbed-down, focus-grouped, and obsessively post-produced, with the sole intention of drawing big crowds at festivals and eventually selling out stadiums. I don’t want to sound like an elitist indie-rock snob, and I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with success, it’s just that in the musical industry in particular, success almost always brings drastic change. In other words, enjoy Fields’ debut EP now, but assume that this is the last time you’ll hear from this band.

X = 7.5

Buy 7 From The Village at Amazon.com