Field Assembly/ Narco
(2013)
Receiver
Storm and Stress
Through a Bottle Through a Well
Lions Versus Christians
Gold Coast
Hope
Foreign Homes
This record is an immediate piece of art: immediate in its delivery, structure and intentions. As the second album (and first in four years) from Edmonton-via-Windsor songwriter Lyle Adam Fox (aka Field Assembly), Narco is presented as a short collection of indie-folk elucidations fragilely anchored by clean, unfettered melody lines, whispered guitars and crisp production, courtesy of Toronto troubadour Dean Drouillard. As much of the record seemingly pulls from the Leonard Cohen book of lyric writing (i.e., New Testament Christians, falling empires, blood/wine, etc.), tracks like "Receiver" and "Foreign Homes" carry upon themselves an exceedingly emotional weight, thanks to Fox's achingly stark delivery. Allowing his arrangements and vocal phrasings to appropriately gestate and breathe, Fox's compositions feel much more ambitious and sparser than their thee-minute running times suggest. Narco presents Fox as an artist who prefers mood and timbre to mode and texture.
- Exlaim!
