Field Report announced last week that they’re set to follow up 2018’s Summertime Songs with a new album called Brake Light Red Tide this spring. Chris Porterfield’s project has always delivered its hearty Midwest folk-rock with an inspired creative twist, which was certainly the case on “Breathe,” the new song Field Report shared late last year. That one found Porterfield’s drowsy, grizzled vocals surrounded by a swirl of flickering guitar and keyboard sounds, wandering horns, rolling bass, and drums that slapped in the most literal sense.
“Peoria,” another advance track out today, is like traversing a different section of the same highway. It’s ostensibly a country-rock song, but as with Porterfield’s pals in Bon Iver, the arrangements on Field Report songs tend to keep you off-balance in the best way — particularly when Porterfield and Caley Conway’s voice lift into the chorus and a surprise chord change comes bombing into the celestial beauty. The song’s opening lyrics suddenly seem extra resonant with an economic crisis looming: “We’ve been falling behind/ Every day for weeks/ It’s been getting darker/ And the clouds are forming.”
Hear both “Peoria” and “Breathe” below.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Peoria”
02 “Breathe”
03 “A River’s Love”
04 “Push Us Into Love”
05 “Puget Sound”
06 “Whulge”
07 “Begin To Begin”
Brake Light Red Tide is out 4/28 on Fellesskap Records. Pre-order or pre-save it here.
