These New Puritans
Field Of Reeds

THE REVIEW

It's well known that the United Kingdom is unbeatable when it comes to exporting groups of all kinds that are immediately labeled as unmissable, next-big-thing, new sensations, only to be abandoned after one album. To survive, one must possess the talent and creativity to reinvent oneself time and again, without falling too much into citationism and recycling of current trends. These New Puritans are among these survivors.

Starting with "Beat Pyramid" in 2008, a premature and raw debut albeit interesting, they immediately captured the critics' hearts, becoming, in fact, one of the many emerging British revelations. Fortunately, at the head of the formation there is an overflowing, even annoying, but absolutely necessary ego: that of leader Jack. You look at his face and already see his conceit: named one of the coolest men on the planet according to NME, called by Dior to score their 2007 men's fashion show (with the fifteen-minute post-punk piece "Navigate, Navigate").

Well, behind the natural cool and hipster antipathy that the leader unleashes, there lies the nature of a genius. And if he's not a genius, then he's someone overflowing with ideas. For the masterpiece "Hidden" (ever more convinced it's a masterpiece... after three years it still hasn't missed a beat and hasn't been dulled by time), the group's second album, he did everything on his own and in solitude, calling his fellow musicians only to complete the studio recordings. And already there was no more danceable post-punk (except for the sole "Fire-Power"): in its place a magnificent ensemble of brass, bassoon, percussion, drums, female and children’s choirs, timeless melodies, aggressiveness, sweetness...

A radical change capable of bewildering, fascinating, even alienating. What moves the music of These New Puritans is risk. Risk found in this third chapter, "Fields Of Reeds". Those who loved "Hidden" might be disappointed: once again a complete turnaround that rejects rapid rhythm, violence, the beat.

As many of you already know, I like to associate images with the records I listen to. Here. If for "Beat Pyramid" I see a group of hipster kids moshing until they sweat blood and for "Hidden" there's nothing but a war fought in a black sky invaded by stars, in "Fields Of Reeds" I see endless fields of cotton candy.
Stretched melodies, often difficult, where music overshadows the voice. Smoky, intangible arrangements, full of poetry. Instead of easily continuing with entertainment or a "Hidden 2.0", These New Puritans preferred to envelop the listener with a cold sweetness. They remain detached, but they know very well how to enchant.

From the splendid single "Fragment Two" (among the most beautiful songs of the year) to the solemn and extraordinary nine minutes of "V (Island Song)", passing through the paradisiacal purity of the title track and the obsessive "Organ Eternal", which seems to recall (a bit distantly, but anyway the reference appeared obvious to me) certain things by Dead Can Dance.

The album builds landscapes of a wonder that needs to be discovered. "Field Of Reeds" is not immediate, nor is it complicated, but it is one of those records that reveal themselves with repeated listens. Nine tracks that flow among piano, strings, light electronic smokescreens, and winds. If we absolutely had to find some comparison as to how "Field Of Reeds" sounds, then the first names that come to mind might be Talk Talk or Sigur Rós. But these are distant comparisons, inspirations, not copies. The sound of These New Puritans continues to evolve, change, adjust, but always remains original, distinguishable, surprising. 

"Field Of Reeds" is a bud. If you don't water it and take care of it, it will die. But if you commit to making it grow, it will then give rise to a magnificent garden.

Not to be missed.