School of Language - Old Fears

School of Language
Old Fears
7 April 2014
Memphis Industries

3.5 stars out of 5

 

Old Fears is the second solo LP by Field Music member David Brewis under the name School of Language. Drawing inspiration from the early ‘80s New Romantic movement as well as most of Talking Heads’ œuvre, Brewis creates an album that manages to sound fresh and new despite being firmly grounded in a tradition that was at its peak 35 years ago.

“Distance Between” introduces Brewis’s Hot Chip-meets-Talking Heads sound before “A Smile Cracks” redirects us along a more New Romantic type of journey. “Between the Suburbs” is the early summit of this particular ascent: it’s got a spookier type of Speaking in Tongues vibe, with Brewis flexing his David Byrne-ish vocal muscles for full effect. “Small Words” is the strongest song on the record, and its post-punk-y guitar and bass twitches and seizures would easily be at home on Fear of Music. Old Fears closes with the strong “You Kept Yourself,” a slow piano-based homage to late-period Talk Talk that indicates Brewis has the talent to produce some truly experimental records within the constraints of pop music.

Between Field Music, School of Language, and The Week That Was, the Brewis brothers have made some solid records in the last few years, among which Old Fears is a worthy addition. Like their fellow townsfolk in Maxïmo Park and The Futureheads, they seem content to return again and again to the first half of the 1980s, and most of these returns are welcome, even if, like this melancholy record, not necessarily happy.

reviewed by Richard Krueger