A review of the Field Manual debut album Someday Streets. https://www.electricgraffitimagazine.com/2017/05/22/album-review-field-manual-someday-streets/ Hippie, yet Not Too Hippie. Right. Where to begin. I don’t really know what to make of Someday Streets at all. Which is not to say that I dislike it. Because in fact. I really do like it. But I just cannot figure it out. It displays a half American blues-country sound, under an 80’s synth driven platform, with some definitive 90’s British Indie influence shining through. A cocktail of U2, The Smiths, Springsteen, and Early Eagles. I like this album. I like this album a lot. I like the frankness of it. The balls. It’s a ‘sit back and forget the shit for 40 minutes’ kind of album. Hippie, yet not too Hippie. Someday Streets, is the work of a band who, although they -technically, as a brand new band- have something to prove, don’t seem to really give a shit. This is not to say that they sound sloppy or lacking in enthusiasm. They don’t sound anything of the sort. They sound great. They seem to just play what they think sounds good, and don’t feel the need to over-complicate it. I have often criticised bands and producers for taking a simple -already good- song, and building it up so much, with over-the-top synths, unnecessary side melodies, and bazaar time signatures, that it eventually turns a once great song, into a brain-battering symphony of over-technical shite. Whereas this is the kind of music to which you could drive to, never get anywhere, just drive, and music like that is always good to have in the collection. This album, is piece of contemporary art displaying an orgy of influences, yet their own twist on each of them, and their own interpretations of modern culture. Country style guitar, Classic Rock keyboard. Something to which I feel is lacking an awful lot in modern music, keyboards are actually cool, and we all know it. The opening guitar and organ based pattern on Walk, sounds like Pink Floyd meeting Joe Bonamassa. Whereas the final, and signature track Someday Streets, sounds like Springsteen and U2, if U2 were cool that is. Based on those two songs alone, I can say that there is something for everybody here. The musical style and sound changes from track to track, yet never losing any of that ferocious energy, similar to that of an angry bull careering towards a sheet of red velvet. The lyrics of the songs are plain and simple. There features no irrelevant, ‘clever’ metaphors. No pretentious Indie Backstory. I like that. It appears to base itself on The open road, freedom, reminiscent hope, and anti-war movements. As I said earlier; Hippie, yet not too Hippie. In terms of the way in which they conduct themselves, their stage presence, and their ability to get whatever crowd they have moving like they’re at Pearl Jam, they tick every box. But do it with such effortless professionalism, that you would think their Greatest Hits had just been released. I have seen many unsigned bands, and I truly believe that Field Manual, have what it takes to be filling stadiums with fans in no time. I think that the public needs to hear these guys perform and hear Someday Streets. Cutting through the bullshit, these guys have what it takes to be the next big British band. 9.5* – 10* Author: Jack Breddy