By the Roads and the Fields

The songs on By the Roads & the Fields are more focused than those on previous Crescent albums, particularly the opening duo of “Spring” and “New Leaves.” Autumnal in tone, they relocate Crescent’s post-rock and folksy tendencies closer to traditional British melancholy, and the limberness in the playing evokes the pastoral of late era Talk Talk and, somehow, the quieter moments on the first few Soft Machine albums. A drum kit creaks in the corner, a sad melodica sirens through the churchy “Mimosa”, and a makeshift brass trio colours in the corners of “Fountains”. By the Roads & the Fields seems to be what Crescent had been aiming for all along, a kind of urban folk song, soundtracking dusty rooms glowing with filtered light.