Prompts / Miscues

Album Review

Coming three years after their debut EP, the first full-length album by the Foundry Field Recordings sounds like it was in gestation the whole time. Prompts/Miscues has that dense, slaved-over sound that, far from sounding sterile or perfected, emphasizes the album's inherent quirkiness, like a D.I.Y. version of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. From the overlaid found-sound tapes and unidentified buzzes of the hazy opening, "Battle Brigades, Pt. 1," through the chiming multi-guitar drones and melodies of "Warning Raids Over Kiev," the urgent indie rock of "Holding the Pilots/Holding the Facts," and the hushed, acoustic "Broken Strings," sonic diversity is the order of the day, with only Billy Schuh's wavering, often falsetto vocals and rather gloomy lyrical approach providing strong lines of continuity. Fans of Built to Spill, Yo La Tengo, and Grandaddy will find much to appreciate here.