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the everybodyfields' latest release, Plague of Dreams, continues the ground gained with their first album, halfway there: electricity and the South
The songwriting on Plague of Dreams shows clear growth over the band's first outing. The pervasive melancholia remains intact as the group tells stories of unrelenting heartache and loss. A general theme of getting away, then capitulating and coming back blankets the album. Jill Andrews cites Joni Mitchell, Gillian Welch and Patty Griffin as influences, but her own ideas are inspired by watching people. This is especially evident on "In Your Boots", the tale of the responsible older child trapped in a dysfunctional family. But with characteristic deftness, Andrews avoids any of the clich's that typically go with this oeuvre. With imagery that would make Flannery O'Connor proud, Andrews describes the irresponsible younger sibling running toward 'the road in her diapers', and a mother who is 'under the weather' while beckoning to daddy to 'take off work today'.
In contrast to this are the shiftless images in Quinn's songs, especially "Arletta" and "Out of Town". The latter contains a self-reassuring verse that captures the pathos of a little band barn-storming the East Coast:
New town
It looks nothing like the photographs
I'm driving around
Looking for all the good bars
And overhead are the same stars
Everything is a little better here
As good as the lyrics are, Quinn and Andrews could get away with aimless echolalia. Their harmonies, augmented by Richey's baleful Dobro, evoke both bliss and empathy. Never mind that the everybodyfields' music eludes easy definition. They represent both the new and old traditions extremely well. - Chuck Hicks, popmaters.com
track listing:
01. magazines 
02. the only king
03. leaving
04. by your side
05. Arletta
06. baby please
07. out of town
08. can't have it
09. fade jeans blue
10. in your boots
11. good to be home
12. angels