For Keeps (album)

For Keeps is the third and final album by The Field Mice. It was also their very first (and only) full-length release on Sarah Records - their previous two, Skywriting and Snowball, being mini-albums. "For Keeps" adheres to the Field Mice blueprint of ambient electronica combined with wistful acoustic/jangle pop with Bobby Wratten's lovelorn lyrical obsessions, best represented on the alternately reflective and soaring highlight that is "Star of David".

Contents

• The field mice for keeps full album
• Track listing
• 2005 bonus tracks
• Songs
• References

Despite the middle section of side two being taken up with three successive slow-paced and pastoral-sounding ballads, the album still demonstrates a certain eclecticsm that one comes to expect from The Field Mice. Opener "Five Moments", for instance, is a beautifully atmospheric showcase of co-vocalist Anne-Marie Davies' characteristically ethereal vocals. The album's most uptempo [and euphoric] track, "Coach Station Reunion", cheekily steals the guitar riff from The Beatles' "Doctor Robert" via an electric Byrds-ian Rickenbacker guitar, whilst "This Is Not Here" gives the origin of its title away with its blatant Lennon-esque stylings fronted by some psychedelic guitars and phased vocal effects. Two instrumentals bookend the second half: the first, "Tilting at Windmills", shows a more ambient side to the band, whilst the album's rockiest moment; the seven-minute "Freezing Point" which features frazzled Loop-like repetition and caustic guitars at its final coda, brings things to a noisy conclusion.